Equivalent exchange
by Lliono
Summary: A meeting with a snake changes Harry's life. He explores magic at a young age which makes him unable to differentiate between light and dark magic. Filled with sacrifices and rituals. Dark!magic, Good!Harry. Definitely AU.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. Surprise?

.:Parseltongue:.

 **Chapter 1**

It was a nice morning in the summer at 4 Private Drive and the sun had been up for a couple of hours. The grass was still a bit wet from the nightly rain, but it was starting to dry up. A scrawny six year old Harry Potter, with unruly hair, had just finished making breakfast for his relatives and was sent out to work in the garden. Mornings like these were quite enjoyable according to Harry because of the quiet wind blowing in his face and the nice smell of wet grass.

Working in the garden was one of his most agreeable chores as he could hide behind some of hedges or in the flowerbed and not really work. His aunt and uncle would not check on him until lunch and were more interested in getting him out of sight then for him to actually work.

The only negative thing about the morning was that he had failed breakfast and managed to burn the bacon. That meant he had to go without food that morning. Usually he could eat some berries or fruits from the garden but it was late in the summer and he had already eaten everything available. He felt his stomach rumble as he lied down by the flowerbeds, but tried to dream himself away from the hunger. His favourite day dream was about his parents jumping in and telling him they were not dead and had now come to take him away, but unfortunately it never happened.

He was suddenly awakened from his thoughts by a movement to his side. He looked to the side and saw a four foot long snake with a line flowing over the top of its body. He was a little afraid but decided that if it wanted to attack he would be helpless to stop the snake should it choose to attack, so he desperately spoke up:

.:Please don't hurt me:.

The snake looked at him sharply and Harry was starting to imagine what his relatives would say if they found him dead out here. Luckily the snake had not attacked yet. It blinked and to Harry's surprise also said:

.:Hurt you?:.

Harry blinked. This was unreal.

.:Can you speak?:. He asked the snake.

.:Apparently I can:. The snake answered a little bewildered.

.:You've never spoken before?:. He asked the snake.

.:No, and I've never really had too many thoughts either, beside of food and warmth:. The snake answered uncertainly.

.:Well now you can!:. Harry happily stated.

.:It appears so:. The snake said confusedly.

.:Wow, does everyone learn to speak English as fast as you? I'll have to ask my aunt when i get back inside:. Harry said.

.:I'm pretty sure we're not speaking English, if that's the language other humans speak:. The snake said with conviction.

.:We're not? I swear it sounds like English when you talk. But now that I think of it, I do kind of hiss all my words. Maybe it's I who has suddenly learnt a new language! I'll call it snakespeak!:. Harry exclaimed merrily.

.:Ok, that's… :. The snake started, but was interrupted by Harry's rumbling stomach. .:Are you hungry?:.

.:Yes, I missed breakfast this morning:. Harry replied.

.:Why don't you go hunt?:. The snake asked perplexed.

.:I'm not allowed to leave the garden and even if I were I don't know how to hunt:. He said sadly.

.:Well I could help you as a thanks for this conversation:. The snake said and meandered away.

Harry took a moment before he understood that the snake had left. "Wait!" He yelled and heard a distinct "Quiet boy!" from inside the house. He did not dare shout again in fear of his uncle. He was a bit sad that his friend had left him though.

After a while, he wondered if he had not imagined the situation. Talking to snakes! Hah! As if that could have happened. He must have fallen asleep and dreamt it all. He started picking the weeds while he thought about his weird dream.

.:Hello again:. He suddenly heard and jumped.

.:You scared me!:. Harry exclaimed when he saw the snake. Maybe it had not been a dream after all.

.:Sorry, here:. The snake said and laid a dead mouse he'd been holding in his mouth beside Harry.

.:Oh…:. Harry suddenly understood what the snake had done. .:I don't know if humans can eat dead mice if we don't cook it, and I can't go inside when my relatives are there:. Harry explained.

.:I'm sorry:. The snake said dejectedly.

Harry did not want to make the snake unhappy so he grabbed the mouse and started to take a bite out of it. It did not taste as bad as he had imagined. It tasted a bit like raw chicken, at least what he imagined raw chicken would taste like. He took a bit of time to pick all the meat of the mouse and then buried all the bones.

When he was finished he looked up and saw that the snake had disappeared. He heard his aunt saying it was time for lunch. It was his job to cook breakfast, but his aunt made lunch and dinner as she said he would have to get better at cooking before he could do that.

They all sat down and started eating and his relatives started discussing things loudly with each other. While Harry ate in silence he started to feel a bit sick. So he had to excuse himself:

"I'm not feeling very well in my stomach"

His uncle inspected Harry's, now noticeably pale, face.

"You may stay in your cupboard for the rest of the day and rest," He decided.

"Thanks"

Harry hurried to his bed, lied down and tried not vomit. He gagged many times but succeeded to keep the contents of his stomach where they were.

—

The next day started the same as the last, and Harry felt much better. He should probably not eat any more raw mice. Even if the last meeting did not end very well he hoped he would see his friend today again. He rushed out to the garden after breakfast, which he actually succeeded with, so his uncle reluctantly gave him some food. His rushing drew some funny looks, but no one commented on it.

He quickly went where he had been yesterday and looked around. Fortunately, his friend lied there, sunbathing.

.:Good morning!:. Harry said happily.

.:Good morning:. The snake hissed. It was easier to make out when someone spoke snakespeak today after having spoken English with his relatives the same morning.

.:I don't think I introduced myself yesterday:. Harry said .:Hi, my name is Harry:.

.:My name is Ariadnae, I am a garter snake:. Ariadnae said.

.:Huh, are you a girl?:. Harry asked.

.:Yes:. Ariadnae answered somewhat affronted.

.:I didn't know:. Harry said quickly .:How do you if a snake is a boy or a girl?:.

.:You smell it:. She answered as if that was the most obvious thing in the world.

Harry did not really know how to answer that, so he started pulling the weeds instead. Suddenly he hurt his finger on thorn, and started to cry because it hurt.

.:Stop crying:. Ariadnae ordered. .:It will not make it better, and you only waste energy feeling sorry for yourself. Do something about it instead. Maybe licking your fingers like some dogs I've seen helps?:.

Harry still looked a little sad but managed to bite back his tears. He started to lick his finger and it definitely hurt less when all the dirt had gone.

.:Thanks:. He said.

.:It is something every snake knows. Every action has a cost, therefore you should not waste more energy than needed so that when you need it, you can use it to continue living:. Ariadnae explained and Harry thought it was a sound advice, a bit morbid, but good. .:That's why I lie still here in the sun. I can't make my own body temperature rise so I let the sun do it for me, and save energy. Therefore I have lots of energy saved for when I go hunting:.

.:So I shouldn't do anything else other than eat?:. Harry asked bewildered.

.:No that's not what I meant. I just meant that if you waste energy on unnecessary things, you might not have enough when you need it:. She explained, but he still looked a little uncertain. .:Look, it translates to other situations beside energy as well:. she continued .:When I hunt I have to hide so I don't alert my pray that I exist, and creep up beside them. But if I want to catch something, I have to leave the safety of hiding and jump out. If I don't wait in the safety of my den long enough I will have wasted the the opportunity. But the same applies if I do wait too long. I just mean that you should not cry if it doesn't have any meaning. If it were to attract help from someone it would be okay, but crying for crying's sake should not be done:.

By this time she had completely lost the six year old Harry, but she decided she would continue to help him understand later. It was, after all, one of the most important lessons to know as a snake. The fact that Harry was not a snake escaped her.

Harry continued working while they chatted away the time. Soon the day had ended, but Harry knew he had a friend waiting for him in the garden the next day, so he was not very sad to leave. The last days of the summer continued on in the same manner. Ariadnae tried to teach Harry everything a snake needed to know to survive, and Harry tried to tell Ariadnae every exciting thing he would do once he started first year in school. Ariadnae decided that it was best if Harry did not take her with him to school at first, but if it was safe they could discuss it again.

—

When the first school day had ended, Harry came home stone-faced and quiet. He quickly made his way to the garden in seek of Ariadnae's comfort. Once there, he couldn't stop a single tear from escaping his eye. He quickly wiped it away because he knew you should not waste energy to cry if it was not needed. He quickly started telling his new friend what had happened during the day to his friend, after some prompting from her.

.:Well it started out really well and I sat beside this nice boy. We talked a lot, but when the brake came Dudley started telling everyone that I was a freak, and then nobody wanted to be friends with me anymore:. He told her and let out a sob even though he did not want to. .:After that, everything went bad. They started calling me names and I even tried crying to see if it would help, but it just made everything worse:.

Ariadnae did not know what she was supposed to do, but she settled on slithering up and resting on his lap.

.:At least I have you:. He said and started petting her.

She felt a bit warm at that even though the sun was not shining. In an attempt to make Harry feel better, she started telling him about how she had met another snake. She explained how she could talk to him, and that he could understand her, but he could not speak back to her. This made her feel kind of special, and the other snake was awed by her ability. She told Harry that she would definitely have many consorts next spring and she would be able to choose the most strongest snakes to be fathers to her children. Harry was surprised by the odd fact, and she explained that female snakes usually took several mates when they wanted to reproduce, and the eggs she laid would probably come from different fathers. Harry just filed it away as things that were different between humans and snakes.

—

Harry learned fast that Ariadnae was right about crying. You should just save your energy because it did not help either way, and he did not want to show that the other kid's harsh words actually hurt. He mostly kept a neutral expression on his face and pretended he did not hear when someone said something mean. This made it boring for most kids to tease him so they chose a different target instead. Harry wanted to help the poor girl who had taken his place but he did not dare for fear they would choose him again.

The only ones who did not stop calling Harry names were Dudley and his friends. Their favourite word was freak which they used on him daily. This was picked up from Petunia when she was mad with Harry.

The only place he could let out his feelings were in the garden where he would sit and talk for hours with Ariadnae. He soon learnt how to choose between talking english and snakespeak. He spent so much time there that it sort of became Harry's part of the house. His relatives learnt that if they did not want to see Harry they just had to block the windows with the curtains and stay inside. This Harry was grateful for as he did not have to hide as well when he talked to Ariadnae. He knew it would be disaster if they knew he was outside with a snake, talking or not.

—

It was the day of Halloween, when Dudley and his friends had been extra mean, that something happened. Just when Dudley had said freak for the 10th time that day, Harry had enough. He did not want to hear Dudley anymore, so he hissed quietly but angrily:

.:Shut up:. He was surprised when he noticed it had come out as snakespeak, but even more surprised when Dudley actually shut up. He was looking quite funny as if he tried to speak, but could not make any sound. His friends started laughing at his antics, but when Dudley ran away crying, shock blew through the boys.

"Uhmm, what happened?" Harry asked baffled.

"I have no idea, but did you see him cry?! He's was such a crybaby!" Piers started laughing. Harry did not think it was as funny, but kept a neutral mask and said nothing.

—

Hell awaited Harry at home that day. When Dudley told his parents (His silence had somehow been broken) what had happened they automatically assumed it was something harry had done. Why, harry did not know, but the result was that he was locked in his cupboard without dinner and did not get any breakfast for the next day either.

It did not matter though, as it was already too late. Scary Dudley had cried, and now he was not so scary anymore. His old friends were like sharks in bloody water. They were on him from the first minute, and called him a crybaby. It did not take long for Dudley to start crying again, and then it was official. The bullies had a new target. Harry both felt relieved that he was out of sight, and sorry for his cousin; he did not wish upon Dudley what he had done to him.

When he returned and told Ariadnae what had transpired during the day, she too felt sorry for Dudley. They both agreed Harry should teach him to not show any weakness the next day. It was only fair, he was family after all, even if he had been mean to Harry.

.:I wonder why he became quiet all of a sudden:. Harry asked thoughtfully .:It was like he wanted to talk but couldn't. If my uncle is to be believed, than it was my fault. Though I did hiss 'shut up' at him before he went quiet:.

.:Maybe it was you?:. Ariadnae thought out loud.

.:What? No! I swear I didn't do anything!:. He yelled, feeling falsely accused. A shout of something undistinguishable was heard from inside the house, but was ignored. They both knew Vernon would not come out if they did not shout anymore.

.:No, I mean, you can talk to me and made me be able to both think and speak. It wouldn't be that much of a stretch to think that you could make him quiet by saying something, if you wanted to:. She said, still deep in thought.

.:Oh, I didn't really think of it that way:. He said. .:If I have this…power… how do you think it works?:.

.:I don't know, try hissing 'shut up' to me and see if it works?:. She proposed.

.:Shut up:. He said .:Did it work?:.

.:No, it does not appear so:. She said dejectedly .:Did anything else happen when you said it?:.

.:Well I was really angry with Dudley but otherwise nothing special. I could try and feel really angry again maybe?:. He said but did not really believe it.

.:Okay:.

He tried really hard to feel the same anger at his cousin as he did the day before. It was not that hard when he imagined all the times he had called Harry a freak.

.:Shut up:. He hissed and suddenly felt kind of tired. .:Did it work now?:.

Ariadnae seemed to move her mouth but no sound came out of it. Then she suddenly stopped and nodded. Harry felt almost giddy when he understood he had a special power. "Am I a superhero now?" He wondered. Then he looked at Ariadnae who was now bobbing her head from side to side. It looked kind of funny but then he realised it was because she could not speak.

.:Uhmm speak again:. He said but it did not work. He became a little afraid and thought about what he had done the first time he had spoken to her. .:Hello:. He tried but even that did not work. Now he was really afraid .:please speak again!:. He said a little louder and suddenly felt the same tiredness as he felt when she was quieted.

.:Hello? Oh, good, I can speak again:. She exclaimed, satisfied.

Harry felt very relieved and threw himself at Ariadnae and hugged her. He sobbed a little while she tried to comfort him. Then he gathered himself and took a deep breath.

.:I thought I lost you:. He said wistfully.

.:I'm here now:. She said and for some reason feeling a little happy .:What happened when you released me?:.

.:Well, I felt really afraid that I would lose you, maybe you have to feel strong emotions for this power to work? Do you think it matters which emotion I feel? I'd rather feel love than hate. Then there was this feeling like I became really tired when it worked:. He explained.

.:Aha! Even your power must obey the rule! To get something you must lose another. To work this power of yours you must use up your energy! This power of yours thinks like a snake. I like it:. She said while wagging from side to side. Harry could not help but smile at her antics. She stopped suddenly and narrowed her eyes. .:maybe it even can eat like a snake:. She wondered and dashed away.

Harry felt a sudden déjà vu and had to hold it together to not shout 'wait' after her. He knew she would come back and probably with a mouse in her mouth. He did not want to eat a mouse but would if he had to; it was not that bad last time. Right? It did not take long for her to show up again with, predictably, a mouse.

.:So, how do you suppose my power eats?:. He asked, resigned to his fate.

.:Well everything else has happened with words in snakespeak, so you should say something with it:. She explained her thoughts on the matter. .:And you should maybe feel a strong emotion too:.

.:Okay, I'm not really hungry so that feeling is out:. He threw a look at Ariadnae and felt his love for her so he decided to use that. He looked at the mouse, but thought of the wonderful time he had had with Ariadnae and what a wonderful friend she was. Then he burst out. .:Power, eat this mouse!:.

Nothing happened.

.:Well that was anticlimactic:. Ariadnae said .:maybe we need to think about it more:. Harry did not think it would work, but decided to humour his friend.

.:If we think about you said earlier:. He started .:Maybe I need to phrase it so there is an exchange?:.

.:Yes!:. she exclaimed .:Something like 'I offer this rat to my power':. She said the last part in a deep voice for some reason.

.:Oh! Like sacrifice!:. He flushed .:They told me in school they used to do that to the gods a long time ago:.

.:I suppose you could say sacrifice if you want to:. She said with a sigh.

.:Yay! I feel like that ancient shepherd sacrificing my lamb to god!:. Ariadnae just rolled her eyes. .:Okay here I go:. Again he thought of all his love for Ariadnae .:I sacrifice this rat to my power!:.

Again he felt something happen, but this time he did not feel tired, rather really invigorated, as if he could move mountains with his strength alone. He saw that the rat was burning by some strange black fire, but there was no smoke. When the entire rat had burned, the feeling of strength had disappeared, but he still felt more awake than before. He also felt like something within him had changed, but he could not pinpoint what. It was Ariadnae who broke the silence.

.:I seriously like this power of yours. What happened?:. Harry explained what he had felt like during the event, but skipped the part about what he thought of before it.

.:We should try some more!:. Was her only reply, but before she slithered away his aunt yelled that dinner was ready. He promised Ariadnae that they would try some more tomorrow after school and went inside.

—

The next day he went to school he remembered that he should explain to Dudley how to hide his emotions just like he did himself. Before they went in to class Harry dragged his cousin to the side and explained. His cousin just snorted but in class he kept throwing glances towards Harry and when break came he kept his face neutral just as had seen Harry do. It worked somewhat and the bullies, led by Piers, tired soon. It was not until after school Dudley said a quick thanks to Harry and hurried along.

At home the strangest thing happened. Dudley had offered some of his sweets to Harry. It felt like the world had stopped in its tracks. Vernon, Petunia and Harry stared. Petunia recovered first.

"You don't have to give the freak your sweets. It was very nice of you, but it could become contaminated"

"But I…" Dudley started.

"No it's okay, you should keep your sweets Dudley", Harry said, clearly moved. "We can talk more in school" He whispered so only Dudley could hear.

"What are you whispering about boy?" Asked Vernon distrustingly.

"Nothing important, just that only nice boys may eat sweets", Harry lied quickly.

Dudley gave him an odd look, but said nothing.

—

When he made it outside to his and Ariadnae's usual meeting place he had to stop short. Before him lay what looked like a dozen or more rats.

.:Hello:. Said Ariadnae happily.

.:Hello, I see you've been busy:. Said Harry which made Ariadnae look a little sheepish. .:Well then:. He said, resigned .:shall I begin?:.

.:Yes!:. She exclaimed, many times more excited than he.

.:Okay:. He thought about Ariadnae "I sacrifice these mice to my power".

Nothing happened, again.

.:You spoke in human language:. she explained.

.:I guess I slipped when I tried to hold on to my feelings:. he said.

.:What feelings did you use?:. she asked, wanting to know more about this power.

.:Uhmm, I kind of… like I used… I thought of my love for you and our friendship. You're my best friend:. he said and hastily added .:Well let's get on with the mice:. Ariadnae did not say anything but you could tell that she was very pleased. He did as he did the last time, but said the phrase in snakespeak instead. This time it worked and all the mice started burning with those black flames. He felt even more invigorated than the last time but the feeling of being able to move mountains was not as big. Suddenly he felt something happen around his body and he shook off his big jumper he had inherited from Dudley. There he saw rather than feel changes appear. His scrawny body started to fill out and now he looked more like a slightly thin normal six year old rather than a scrawny one. When it was done he once again felt something change within him as it did last time but it was not as pronounced as last time.

.:Wow, I feel great:. Harry blurted out. He also saw that while the black flame had scorched all the mice, nothing around them seemed to have been effected by it.

.:Hmm, we need more mice for you to start to fill out, but we have to careful so you don't start looking like your uncle:. Ariadnae said while inspecting the changes. .:I'll leave now so I have a lot of mice tomorrow:.

.:Okay, good bye!:. Harry said, still touching all over his torso and looking quite pleased with the changes. That day was the easiest ever to pick the weeds and he had trouble sleeping in the evening as he was still full of energy.

—

When Vernon and Petunia left the boys at school Dudley went straight to Harry. He gave Harry a bag with a few sweets. "You can still have the rest". Harry almost felt tears fill his eyes but he squashed them mercilessly and gave Dudley a big grin.

"Do you want to play together during break?" Harry asked his cousin.

"Yes very much", Was his only answer. Their classmates were quite bewildered when the two cousins played happily together during break. That was the start of an odd sort of friendship.

—

When they got back home they continued playing even in the presence of Dudley's parents. The two adults were quite shocked to say the least. Then Vernon got enraged, and they were not allowed to play under any circumstances and that Harry had work to do in the garden. Dudley looked dejected at that, but Harry only smiled mischievously at that, and said:

"Only nice boys may play"

Dudley looked puzzled at that. Then he understood the message.

—

When Harry got out to his meeting place he expected maybe a few more rats then the last day. Instead he was greeted by almost 20 mice in a heap. He looked at Ariadnae who looked quite smug.

.:How did you manage this?:. He asked, stunned.

.:There are advantages with having several males who are looking to please me:. She said, no less smug then before.

.:Should I meet with them and thank them?:. He asked when he realised what she meant.

.:And give up my advantage of being the only snake who can speak, no thanks. I think I'm aiming for queen in the neighbourhood:. She stated with conviction.

.:I can only wish you luck:. He chuckled at her. Then he prepared himself and thought of his love for Ariadnae. .:I sacrifice these mice for my power:.

This time he only slightly had the feeling of feeling invincible but it was quickly overruled by the feeling of energy and change within his body. He suddenly realised how big the heap was and how big he might end up. He suddenly wanted to stop it, but realised he had no idea how. He would just have to take of his shirt and see what the results would be.

He did fill out, but only to a point. Then he started to grow muscles until looked like a very athletic six year old. Then suddenly the bodily changes stopped and he only felt like something expanded inside his chest. He felt a great alarm at that, because he did not want to pop like a balloon. Though the expanding thing in his chest felt very odd; it was like it was expanding but at the same time was not. Like it was filled with more but did not get any bigger. He noted that this was not the same change he had felt the last two times he had done it and wondered what both of the changes meant.

And he felt great! He could move! He just knew he could outrun everyone his age and lift really heavy stuff. He tried stretching as they had learned in P.E. He was way more flexible than before. Overall, he felt really great.

.:Someone's looking good:. Ariadnae teased.

.:Thanks, I feel good too:. He said. .:I even think I am a little bit taller:. He observed.

.:Put on your jumper again and we can see if changes are noticeable:. She said, and he did so.

His jumper was still too big, so he guessed no one would notice.

.:No I don't see anything if I don't look for it:. She said contently.

.:Great!:. He exclaimed and the friends simply enjoyed the rest of the day. None of his relatives seemed to notice any of the changes he had done to himself, not that they were looking for anything anyway.

—

The next day both Harry and Dudley acted like they did not see each other until Dudley's parents were gone, then smiled and started a day full of fun and playing. Dudley even commented on the end that hanging out and playing was much more fun than teasing others. Harry only smiled at the changes in his cousin. They also decided they would only play when they were at school, as both knew how Vernon and Petunia would react otherwise.

—

Harry and Ariadnae stopped sacrificing as many mice as they had in the beginning, because the only change Harry could make out were the expanding feeling in his chest, but it did not do anything for him. Ariadnae had a theory that the feeling was his power expanding, but neither of them knew what to do with the power yet so they did not feel as great a need.

Ariadnae's plan on taking over the neighbourhood seemed to be going well, at least according to her; Harry never actually met any other snakes. As the autumn flew by, Harry's glasses were getting more and more tighter, and that led to Harry's plan for trying to fix his eyesight with his power.

Ariadnae had again come through by providing a lot of dead mice. Harry did not think it would take so many, but he did not want to take any chances. Maybe he would be blind if the power was not satisfied with the sacrifice. So once again he stood and thought of all the love he felt for Ariadnae and said clearly:

.:I sacrifice these mice to fix my eyesight:. He crossed his fingers and hoped it would work. Then he saw the black flames start licking the mice and let out a sigh of relief. Now he only had to hope he would not go blind. He took of his glasses and felt as everything started to get clearer. Not just as clear as they had been when he saw through his glasses, but even more clear. He could see far. Much further than he had ever seen before. He could also see everything in much more detail.

What surprised him though was that not all of the mice were gone by the time the flames were gone. Only their eyes had been burnt, but he was too tired from the first sacrifice to do anything special so he just sacrificed the rest to strengthen his powers.

He knew this change would be more noticeable, nevertheless he thought his relatives, except Dudley of course, would blame his freakish way and that would be it. He hoped he was right.

He was. For some reason they even looked a bit afraid, even Dudley commented on that in school. Dudley did not know enough about eyes to think that it was strange that he did not wear glasses anymore and the teachers did not comment. Maybe they thought he wore contacts. The only reason Harry knew eyes did not work that way was because Ariadnae had told him so.

He understood that he may have overdone his eyesight sacrifice when he noticed that he could read something from a paper that was on the opposite side of the classroom when his classmates hardly could read something 2-3 meters away. Well, nothing to do about that now.

He and Dudley had become great friends over the months and they even protected the girl who was bullied after Harry and befriended her. Her name was Elisabeth. Now all three of them were great friends and made sure no one else were bullied by Piers's group. It was a tough job, but someone had got to do it, and the teachers were not.

—

It was at this point a certain bearded man took notice of one of his many instrument and smiled. He had been worried by Arabella's report this summer but now he knew he had made the right choice in placing young Harry at his relatives. Not that it has been a choice really. Both his godmother and godfather was unable to take care of him and anywhere else would likely see him dead within the week. Good thing purebloods had such a problem with navigating in the muggle world as he could live in obscurity until his hogwarts letter.

—

When winter came Ariadnae told harry she was going to have to hibernate. That led to a discussion on what hibernation was and a very sad Harry Potter. He still had Dudley and Elisabeth as friends though. They were always at Elisabeth's place when they were playing outside of school as neither of the boys wanted to explain to Elisabeth the way Harry was treated. When winter break came, Harry was often very bored. He had taken to writing a list on things he wanted to get through his power instead of making a list to Santa.

One day during winter break, Harry felt his power stir a bit with joy. It felt really weird and Harry definitely thought his power was alive at that moment. He later learned that the day was called winter solstice and had been celebrated by many different cultures during history. Nothing happened during Christmas though, which Harry thought was weird. He decided that if his power thought winter solstice was more important than Christmas then so would he. Santa had never really come through for Harry after all, but his power had.

Though this Christmas had gone decisively well for Harry, he and Dudley had gotten a Christmas card from Elisabeth and had decided to make one to her as well. Vernon and Petunia did not really like the fact that Harry's name was on the card they sent to her, but it would be too suspicious if she only got a card from Dudley.

Winter went away and soon came spring with a very happy Harry and Ariadnae, who were reunited. Harry told her what had happened during the winter, and was very interested in what had happened to his power during winter solstice. She also told him there was a summer solstice as well and that Harry should ask his teachers how old cultures used to celebrate both occasions. Maybe there had been others with his power in the past that had showed the normal people how to properly celebrate them.

They both thought the reason his power had not felt the dates before was because his power had not been strong enough. This made a reason why they should step up the power enhancing sacrifices. He then showed her his list he had been making about what he wanted to do with his power. The list contained four topics. A way to give Ariadnae the power as well, a way to be smarter and a way to remember things better.

He did not want to enhance more of his senses; it was sometimes more of a burden seeing everything so clear. He had found that out when his uncle had opened his door to the cupboard one day when he had overslept. His eyes had really hurt in the sudden sharp light. What if he enhanced his skin's feeling and he hit himself? That would hurt so much more.

The forth topic was not something to enhance. It was simply to maybe tell Dudley and Elisabeth about his powers. Ariadnae smiled at the last. Of course she would show herself to them if Harry wanted to. He just had to make they did not tell Vernon or Petunia or anyone else because then she and Harry may be separated.

The good thing about it being spring was that many male snakes in the vicinity wanted to impress Ariadnae and that made it easy to gather mice for sacrifice. One even brought a rat once. These numbers though made it very hard to hide in the garden for their sacrifices. They decided to relocate to a nearby park, where there were trees that could block the sight. They also had to quickly use up all the mice so they would not rot and start to smell so people would find them. Most people would probably think it would be strange if they found a large pile of mice. They would definitely have to find a better way to do all these sacrifices or they would soon be found out. Lucky for Harry, it was Ariadnae who coordinated everything. Otherwise they would have been found out a long time ago.

They decided that the rat along with almost forty mice would be good enough to give Ariadnae the power as well. Ariadnae had told harry that she thought it would not work, but that they should try it anyway.

.:I sacrifice these mice and this rat to give Ariadnae the power:. Harry said out loud, but unfortunately nothing happened. .:I sacrifice these mice and this rat to make me smarter:. He said, but even then nothing happened. He felt a bit down as none of the two sacrifices had worked, but he decided to try the last one. Third time's the charm he thought hopefully. .:I sacrifice these mice and this rat to make me remember easier:.

That time it actually worked, and all the mice's and the rat's heads started to burn with the now familiar black flame, but none of them seemed to burn. He guessed it was rather their brains that burned, rather than their heads. Then he suddenly seemed to remember a lot. It was like all of his life was playing before his eyes. He thought with morbid humour that this was supposed to happen before you die, not when you're six years old.

Even though he remembered so much, his memories from when he was very little were kind of strange. He saw everything differently and, at some points, his senses were all jumbled together. His sight, for example, did not become as good as he had when he had glasses until he was almost two years old and he did not get glasses until he was almost four. To say that was frustrating was an understatement. After all, here he could remember almost all of his life and then realising he could only see anything clearly in little more than a third of his life. The one thing he was sure of though was that his mother had red hair and his father had black. He was also somewhat sure of that his mother had had green eyes too, like his own.

When he asked Ariadnae about all this later on she chuckled and told him that obviously it was because his senses were still developing when he was a baby. That was a rather big letdown if you asked Harry.

For example, everything tasted rather bland for the first one and a half year of his life. His smell was quite good from the beginning, but it was weird having memories of only smelling things sometimes. It made him rather fond of having all of his senses intact.

His hearing though was quite good after his first half of a year, and it was through this he learned some startling truths. His parents were wizards and a wizard, called Voldemort, had killed them. Voldemort had tried to kill him to but as soon as he had uttered those killing words, Avada Kedavra, Harry had blacked out, when he came to again his godfather Sirius, or Padfoot as he was also known as, had come charging through the door crying and saying he would kill Voldemort. He came in and saw Harry's mother and started screaming and crying again, which made Harry cry as well. Sirius had immediately stopped and been overjoyed when he found Harry alive and proceeded to pick him up and run out of the house, where someone called Hagrid had arrived. Sirius told Hagrid to take Harry to safety on his motorbike while he would go rescue Peter from wherever Voldemort held him. Sirius' motorbike combined with Hagrid's warm coat made Harry quickly fall asleep. Next time he woke up was in his cupboard.

He told Ariadnae all important parts of his memory, which was not much. He told her of hearing his parents' voices and all the odd words which he thought sounded like spells. He also knew that all non wizards were called muggles and that it was forbidden to tell them about the wizarding world. Good thing he had not told Elisabeth and Dudley about his 'power' which he now knew was magic. He also realised that both Vernon and Petunia knew about magic which was why they told him he was a freak. Suddenly it did not feel as bad being called a freak anymore, as that seemed to be synonymous with wizard, or witch if the person was a girl.

There was so much to think about that he almost could not sleep that night but in the morning he had reached some conclusions. Padfoot could turn into something dog-like and Wormtail could turn into something mouse-like. He understood that this was why they were given their nicknames. His father was called Prongs. Harry did not know what kind of animal his father was supposed to be but if you followed the logic of the nicknames he would be an animal with horns or simply a pronghorn. Harry thought the last was the most likely. Moony was not that hard though. He must be a wolf as they were the only animals Harry knew that had any connection to the moon.

Harry also wanted to find the animal he could turn into, because really; if you could choose which animal to turn into, who would choose to become a wolf when you already had a dog in your gang or the other way around. And why choose a rat? Okay maybe for spying, but there were so many better animals you could into if you wanted to do that. No, Harry was sure you could not choose. He wanted to find his own. That went straight to his list. He supposed he would have to do the memory sacrifice a couple of more times to make sure he had not missed anything in his memories but after that it was free game for anything. While he thought about his sacrifices he supposed they were more rituals than sacrifices as it was magic so maybe he should start calling them that instead.

His parents often talked about wards on their house too. They said they protected them in the house and keep the muggles away. He should try and make his own that made those without magic, or muggles he figured they should be called, walk away without noticing anything was amiss. If he could make one of those wards he could hide the heap of mice which he now had to hide in the woods beside the park and hope nobody happened across. That was not really safe. If he could make it he could return the heap to his backyard again and no one would notice a thing! The wizarding world must have lots of those or similar things if they could have managed to stay hidden for so long. That went above the animal thing on the list.

He also needed to know what language all the spells were cast in so he could learn it. He hoped the non-wiz…muggles, he reminded himself, knew the language because if they did not there was not much he could do about it. But if he did learn the language he could maybe guess what all the spells his parents and their friends did so he could at the very least get ideas for his rituals if nothing else. If he was lucky he might be able to do some of the spells himself he thought hopefully. But every time they did do a spell they had something pointy in their hands. If he focused really hard on those memories they seemed to be made of something brown, which might be sticks. He suddenly felt stupid. Of course wizards had wands. Maybe some had staffs as well?

He thought of all the really crazy stuff he knew about magic. Did witches ride brooms with talking cats and have a cauldron hanging on the side? No, that was ridiculous. But he guessed he would have to search for legends on magic and read some fantasy books in the library. That also went on the rituals-turned-to-do-list.

Now that he thought about it, he was not really this 'smart' before right? He had always been kind of logical about things but not at this level. Six years old should not think things through this much. It must be connected to the memory ritual somehow. Did you get smarter by remembering stuff? No, at least Harry did not think so. But now that he thought about it, older people were generally smarter, and they had more memories. Maybe it was connected? Or maybe he just got an information dump in his head and now was forced to make sense of it. That was probably it he thought wryly. Well, he should probably keep making sense of the information first before thinking about things like this.

His parents had talked about a magic school called Hogwarts. He had never heard anything about such a school. So, he thought this could be another point for the existence of something similar to his wizard-hiding-wards. His parents had mentioned that he would go there when he was older, if the war was over by then. How much older was 'older'? Did it cost money? He probably had no way of making money fast enough to enrol. His relatives would never pay for him going to a magic school. Maybe he had already missed his chance when he turned six and started a muggle school. That would just be bloody fantastic would it not?

Wait a moment and rewind, they said if the war was over. The war might not be over. There might be a hidden magical war going on in the midst of England and nobody would know. That was a scary thought. Or even worse, the wrong guys had already won? What had his parents called them? Voldemort and his death eaters, and they fought for pureblood ideals. That sounded a lot like that Hitler and his gang, which he remembered hearing a TV program about when he was eating dinner once. Had this war been going on since then? Did they not say that the war ended in 1945? Maybe only the muggle side of the war ended.

And what really happened that night when Voldemort came knocking on the door? It sounded like he used the same spell that killed his parents to kill Harry. Did he miss a baby just lying there waiting for him? No, that could not be it. Now that he thought about it, his mother did hastily murmur when she came up to him. Maybe she did some kind of counterspell on him which made him survive, but that does not explain why Voldemort did not try again. Maybe she did something which made the spell rebound? He hoped so. If that were the case, maybe the war was over?

They said the place they were staying at was called Godric's hollow. Was it a wizarding village? Or muggle? If it was a muggle village he should be able to search for it. If it was, how would he be able to go there? He could not go by himself; his relatives would know he was gone in a couple of hours at best. Wait a moment, his parents might have graves there! Maybe he could play the sympathy card to go see his parents' graves. Not bloody likely that it would work but it was worth a try. He put that on the to-do-list as well.

While thinking about all of this he completely forgot to make breakfast which made him stay hungry all the way until lunch. He could not wait for school to end so could talk to Ariadnae about everything. This was not what he had planned when doing the memory ritual. His plan was only to breeze through his exams by easily remembering everything from the classes.

—

The bearded man looked at the monitor concerning Harry Potter's accidental magic. He had not planned on having it; it was just a spur of the moment thing really. Though, he must have done something wrong, as it would not be silenced. Anyway, Arabella had not noticed any magic happening and he would rather trust her judgment than this thing. Because really, daily accidental magic? He waved his wand and it vanished from existence.

—

It was a huffing Harry who met Ariadnae outside the park after school. He told her everything he had thought of during the time he had been away from her and she could only stay silent as he continued telling her. He was rather proud of his reasoning about everything.

.:Well if your memories are correct it would probably be best to find some way to this magical world:. Ariadnae started after he was finished. .:Though I think you're forgetting the present by knowing all of this:. Harry was about to object, but she continued. .:You are living in the middle of nowhere, with guardians who have no inclination of having anything to do with magic. There must be a reason why someone want you to keep magic away from you, or rather, as I think of it, you away from magic:.

That thought was a sad one. It made it definitely seem as though the war was still going on and somebody wanted to protect him. If that was the case then that someone wanted him to live in blissful oblivion. Harry did not want the same and it must have shown on his face because Ariadnae chuckled.

.:I'm not going to sit on the sidelines if a war is still going on!:. He said with conviction.

.:So you want to fight?:. She asked with a small hint of mockery. .:A six year old, who have just found his magic. Do you really think you're going to make a change? It's like sending a newly hatched non-poisonous snake to fight against a fully grown, venomous, Inland Taipan. Besides, do you really know anything about the war? I certainly don't. We don't even know which side your parents were fighting for or if there are more than two sides:.

Harry seemed to deflate at that. .:So you think that I should just stay where I am and be safe?:. He asked a little sadly.

.:No, why not go on as we have done before, but try to stay clear of other magicians so we don't get killed?:. She proposed.

.:That does seem to be the best way:. He said dejectedly .:I guess I just wanted to be part of my parents world:.

.:I understand, but I'll always be there for you:. She said lovingly. Harry smiled a little at that and started petting her. .:When you're fully grown and know lots of magic we can seek out the wizards:. She suggested knowing he needed a goal.

.:I'd like that:. Was his answer.

.:I really like the idea of having this ward thing and not have to worry about being caught:. She said to change the conversation.

.:Then we'll do that tomorrow!:. He said excitedly. .:Today we should do the memory ritual again to see if more turns up:.

It did, but nothing of real importance. He could not wait until next day and make his own secret hideout. He really hoped it worked.

Classes that day were actually very boring. He had already memorised everything the teachers said so nothing new was learned. He had hoped he would enjoy his classes after remembering better. Instead he tried to think of how he should formulate his ritual.

He enjoyed playing with his friends though, playing without a care eased his worries about the future. He was sure it would all turn out okay.

—

Standing in the backyard with all the mice made him worry as it had been some weeks since they had gathered. He had thought really hard about what he wanted his ward to do. He was not really sure about the word muggle so he would use 'humans without magic' instead. It felt safer. He specified humans because he wanted the snakes to be able to enter. In the end he stood before the gathered mice. The male snakes seemed to try to up each other by bringing more and more mice. It was quite the great heap. He wanted this done quickly because it would only take a single glance from inside the house to see the pile. He gathered his feelings and said:

.:I sacrifice these mice to make a four meters big ward, which makes humans without magic not notice anything strange inside:. As he said those words he felt a surge in his magic and all the mice burnt up. When everything was finished he did not see anything amiss. Not that he should, but it was hard to know if anything had happened if nothing changed. He walked inside where he assumed the ward to be.

When he went inside it felt like something tickled his brain and then stopped. That must be the ward he was feeling. He tried awfully hard to feel it again, but every time he felt close it escaped him. He explained this to his friend who seemed understanding. She did not notice any barrier anywhere. As he focused on the feeling again he actually seemed to grasp it again, but then he lost it. This was how he spent the rest of the day until he could feel it if he searched for it and always felt it when he entered. It was much harder to notice the barrier when he stepped out of it than stepped in. Suddenly he was brought back to reality when he felt a hand touch his shoulder. He let out an 'eep'.

"I just wanted to ask for some help with our homework. I can't understand it", Dudley, who the hand belonged to, said.

Dudley was standing inside his ward! He had not done anything strange right? He hoped not. Luckily Dudley did not comment on his pacing back and forth Harry had done. Then Ariadnae slithered up on Harry's leg and let out a high hiss. Harry felt his insides turn to ice. Now he was doomed. Strangely though, Dudley still did not say anything about it. Understanding he had not answered Dudley he quickly said:

"Uhmm yeah sure, I'll be up in a minute". When Dudley went back inside he danced happily. The barrier had worked! Dudley had not noticed anything. His mind was reeling with possibilities.

.:Now we're properly introduced:. Ariadnae said smugly. Harry chuckled at that and went inside to help his cousin with the homework.

—

The barrier was wonderful, he could do anything inside and nobody noticed anything! He had taken to expand it the next day so it compassed the entire garden. Now it was, literary, his part of the house as he could do anything there. He was also getting better at feeling his ward. He could feel the ward without trying when he was inside it and he lost the feeling when he went out. The ward felt disorienting, which was what it should do so he felt quite proud of his creation.

When he came home after school the following day he went through the gate and stopped short. His uncle almost walked over him.

"Out of the way boy", He shot out, but Harry did not listen. He had felt a tickle on his brain. That meant a ward. A ward on the entire house. Vernon pushed him aside and muttered something about wasted money.

He quickly told Ariadnae out in the garden about it and then went to his cupboard to get a feel for this new interesting thing. This ward was much harder to get a feel for, but it felt protective. Of and from whom or what he did not know. He still had not understood it by bedtime.

—

Next day at school he saw Piers and his friends pushing Elisabeth on the school ground. He felt angry and ran to her rescue. He placed himself between them and threw an icy glare in Piers's direction. He completely missed Gordon, who took the chance to push Harry as hard as he could. Harry fell and scraped his arm really bad. He felt pathetic. Just the other day he had thought about joining a war, and here he could not even protect his friend from some bullies.

When he tried to get up Piers pushed him down again, this made his, already scraped, arm start bleeding badly. He heard a gasp from what he thought was Elisabeth. Harry's mind was far away and he started to feel afraid of what would happen. Sure he had been called some very bad names, but nobody had ever hurt him this much.

His thoughts were flying a mile a minute, he wanted to flee but he did not want to leave Elisabeth. But it hurt so much. He almost started crying but knew that would not help the least. He never wanted to be hurt. Yes, he would have to do a ritual. Damn the consequences. The only problem was what to sacrifice. He saw the small pool of red which had gathered under his arm. It was not much, but it would have to do. He hissed quietly:

.:I sacrifice this blood so I never will be hurt again:. As soon as he said it he winced. That was not a very good sacrifice. What would it even do? Before he could think more he felt the largest drain he had ever felt and collapsed.

 **A/N**

 **Here comes the boring part which I always skip when I read fictions, so you have my sympathies if you do.**

 **I have an outline of how I want the story to go but if you have any tips or want something in it I'm willing to listen.**

 **And lastly. I tried to do some research (on google) about things (especially snakes), but I'm sure someone out there can tell me that all I've written is wrong. All I'm asking is to please inform me of these wrongs so I can change it.**

 **Thank you for reading!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N**

 **I'm sorry for not updating, I don't really have any excuse other than that the fic is more of a way to entertain myself than anything else. I make no promises of further updates. If there is, there is.**

.:Parseltongue:.

 **Chapter 2**

Harry awoke feeling very groggy. He laid in the nicest bed he had ever slept in and for a moment he just continued staying there without opening his eyes. Everything felt so nice. It was like he was in heaven. If it were not for that itch on his arm. He tried to ignore it and enjoy the moment, but it was not to be. The itch actually started hurting a little and then he remembered what had happened.

His eyes flew open, but the only thing he could see was white. Clear white. Strong, blinding and painful white. Damn he hated his 'enhanced' eyes. Could he not have just gotten normal, not painful eyes? Anyway, they were starting to adjust and he could see contours of the room. With all the lights in the room it was hard to know what time it was. Or what day, he thought thinking of his rather failed ritual. Well, no time like the present to see how much trouble I've caused.

"Ah I see you're awake", An unknown voice said "You're fine by the way, got to drive a little ambulance but your injuries weren't that dangerous. Your friend was rather shocked by the sight of all the blood but it wasn't so bad when we arrived as she made us believe at first. Actually, there should have been more blood by the size of your injury, but I guess you were lucky."

"I've never really bled that much", Harry quickly lied thinking it must have been the result of the ritual somehow. He got a look of the doctor. It was a middle-aged man with graying hair and gentle eyes. "I'm Harry". He offered his right arm while being thankful it was his left that was injured.

"Nurse Ben" The nurse, not doctor, offered. "The only problem we had were why you blacked out. We established it was rather due to low energy levels than the injury itself. If you could answer some questions for me I'd be happy."

"Uhmm I guess" Harry said carefully. He did not want anyone to know about his magic.

"Do you pass out often?" Ben started with.

"No, I think this was the first time", He answered hoping Ben would not understand something strange from his answers.

"What kind of sport are you playing?" Ben continued.

"I beg your pardon?" Where had _that_ come from?

"Well, you are the most strongest looking six year old I've treated, so I guessed you played some kind of sport", Ben smiled at him.

Harry did not really know how to answer that so he just so he just settled for some half-truth. "I don't, I just really like working in the garden. It's very beautiful."

Ben raised an eyebrow at that but did not comment. Harry winced inside, but kept a neutral look on his face. "What do you usually eat? Tell me about a normal breakfast, lunch and dinner."

At that Harry saw a way out! He could say he had not eaten any breakfast that morning, then he had something to blame. He felt elated that he had found a way out of his problems. "Well I missed breakfast this morning, it's still the same day, right?"

Ben was still smiling sweetly. "Yes, it is. Why did you do that?"

"I failed to cook it and then I don't get any" he answered still thinking about what he should say about the rest of his meals so Ben did not suspect magic.

Ben's smile was suddenly not as sweet anymore, it looked rather strained actually. What had he said for that to happen? He thought about his answer and suddenly felt like hitting himself for his stupidity. He could not say things like that! The strained smile was replaced by a real one again, but Harry was not fooled. Now he had to say something really nice about his relatives so he was not taken to the orphanage. He had heard some really bad things about that place.

"How do you feel about your parents?" He asked. Of course he would ask that. Harry could see that question from miles away.

"They died in a car crash when I was little. Now I live with my aunt and uncle", he said but decided to make it certain to Ben they were 'nice' people so he could stay. If he had to leave he would lose everything, even Ariadnae! He could not be taken to some orphanage. "I love them, they are so nice to me. Dudley and I are best friends. We play together with a girl called Elisabeth."

Right then the door was opened and Vernon stepped in. Harry decided to wing it and shouted "Dad!" He got up from the bed and ran and hugged Vernon. Say what you will about Vernon, but he was not stupid. He understood a play when he saw one. So he bent down, hugged him back and asked him sweetly:

"How are you Harry? I was so worried!" He turned to Ben "Is he ready to come home or does he have to stay here for a while?"

"No he is ready to go", Ben said and started to describe to Vernon how they should treat the injury for the time to come.

When they got in the car Vernon turned angrily to Harry. "What was that about?"

"They started to ask what I ate and how I _felt_ about you and aunt Petunia", Harry explained. Vernon paled a little.

"Well done, boy", was the only thing offered as he turned back and started to drive back to Privet drive.

—

The first thing Harry noticed when he came home was the bad smell. He looked at Vernon but he did not seem to notice it. Harry had a sinking feeling it came from the garden. When he came out he felt exasperated. There were easily a hundred mice laying around. In the corner beside a bush he saw Ariadnae lay. She seemed both pleased and tired.

.:What happened when I was gone?:. He decided to go directly to question her. .:It smells horrible:.

.:I'm having little baby snakes:. She said happily. .:Though the reason for the smell should be the mice:.

He quickly understood the reason for all the mice. He smiled at her. .:I'm so happy for you!:.

.:Then you should really do something about this smell. You will probably have to wait a long time for the next delivery of mice though so you should not waste them. I won't be able to hunt more than for myself for the next month and I don't really think there are as many other snakes wanting to court me right now:. She explained. .:That's why I made them get so many:.

.:I see:. He said and thought of all the rituals he had to wait for now. Then he got an idea. .:Well the strangest thing happened today at school:. He started telling her about his day. .:So I thought maybe my own blood is a good sacrifice?:.

.:That may be so:. She hummed thoughtfully .:Have you checked the effects of your ritual?:.

.:No, not yet:. He said and started searching for something to hurt himself with. He found a thorn and proceeded to press it against his finger. It took several tries for him to really make it start bleeding, but it was more because of his fumbling than any great protection. .:That's too bad. I thought it would be strong after all that. It felt like I used up all the energy in my body though:.

.:Maybe sacrificing different things has different effects?:. Ariadnae thought more than said. .:You should try the power enhancing ritual with first a mouse and then with blood. But first we must think of something to do about this smell, it's awful:.

.:I think I'm going to do try to preserve as many mice as possible by sacrificing them one by one instead of hoping i get the right amount at first try:. Harry stated while moving one of the mice with his feet away from the others. .:I think I could add air-freshening to our ward around the garden:. He said after a moment:.

It worked, but it took two mice before the smell was completely gone. They assumed they would have to do more once the mice really started smelling, but it was a start. Their ward began feeling weird when he thought about it though. It felt all jumbled up and shifting in intensions. It must be because it had several effects! Harry would just have to train and recognize all of them at the same time.

Then came experimentation with blood. They decided to save mice by not doing the normal power enhancing, he knew exactly how that felt after all. So he used the thorn again to drip a drop of blood on a small stone and used it for the ritual. It felt completely different from the normal version.

His magic felt alive. It kicked, jumped and tried to break free. After a while it settled down, but he had only felt the smallest effect on increasing his magic. In all, it felt like he had used the strongest lifting machine possible and only lifting an ant. At least he now knew how to make his magic react in an extremely potent manner. He described it for Ariadnae and they both agreed to try one time with both blood and a mouse.

His finger was really starting to hurt now though so he hoped he would not have to use this method anymore in the future. The effect of them both together was immediate. As soon as he finished his speaking the black flames jumped at the mouse as if it was a starving wolf and the mouse was prey. Everything happened really quickly, but the end result was the same as it had always been. Harry felt kind of happy he would not have to use his blood anymore though.

The next step was to do something about his injury. Harry wanted to heal it, but Ariadnae stopped him. If they went inside to his relatives and his arm was completely healed they would most certainly notice it. Her idea was instead to increase his natural healing so it would just heal faster. Harry grudgingly accepted, he did not want to go around with an injured arm.

He used up about five mice, but did not use anymore, afraid that his healing would become too good. That would also be noticed.

When he went back inside that evening he was kind of tired, he had forsaken using enhancing rituals to save mice. During dinner Petunia suddenly addressed him though. That did not happen often, so this must be important.

"Harry", she started "We have decided to let you have Dudley's second bedroom". Dudley looked both happy and sad at the same time. If not for Harry's own feelings on the subject he would have thought Dudley's reaction funny.

He only felt suspicious. "Why would you do that?".

"Well we talked to Elisabeth's parents and they wanted to come over and meet… ". She started, but trailed off.

Ah, so that was why. Now he definitely understood. "That's great!" he said "Then Dudley and I can show her all of the house."

"They wanted to properly show thanks to their daughter's… savior" She seemed to hesitate on the word.

Harry did what he did best, put the attention on Dudley instead. "I was just the closest one. If Dudley had been there they wouldn't even had dared do anything".

"That's true! At least she got the second best!" Vernon burst out. It appeared he had been holding himself back during the conversation but could not anymore.

"Such an angel, ain't she, sweety?" Petunia voiced her opinion turning to Dudley.

"Uh, yeah" Dudley eloquently said.

"It'll be nice to finally meet the young lady who's captured our little darlings heart" she said in a dreamy voice. All the males in the room suddenly felt a little uncomfortable.

With that the discussion was over and it was soon of to bed for Harry.

—

His arm healed fully over the next three days, but he was too occupied with his new bedroom to notice. It was so nice and… so big! He could dance around and not hit any walls at all! It was paradise he concluded.

He stopped dancing around. He had gotten an idea. He would use the same ward on his room as he had in the garden! Then he could read books in here, show it to Ariadnae and, and! The possibilities were endless.

He would have to be sneaky though to make sure none of his relatives noticed anything. He would also have to be quick when he relocated the mice so nobody would be able to smell them when he ran past them.

It was not until the next day an opportunity arrived. Petunia and Dudley had gone shopping and Vernon was watching TV. Harry sneaked past and managed to recreate the ward in his room. Now he would just have to get a library card and he could take a lot of books home! It was great!

After a while the mice outside started to smell again and Ariadnae ordered him to make an addition to the garden-ward which stopped dead bodies from decaying. He of course complied.

As more additions were added to his wards he was getting better at separating different 'feels' of it. If he concentrated now he could definitely feel the different aspects of the ward together. He suspected it would be hard to know what a ward he had not created was doing, but he hoped he could partially guess it by the feel.

His quest in acquiring a library card worked out as well. The librarian was a little sceptic at giving one to a six year old without parents, but in the end relinquished once he showed her a parental signature. It was not hard to fake as he had seen it plenty of times and had a good memory. He started by checking out some fantasy books.

When showing them to ariadnae he stated it was for researching purposes. She gave him a knowing look, but did not judge. Harry thought the books were so exci…, educational so he stayed inside reading a lot of afternoons. It was not like the mice would disappear anymore, so he had time.

The day for Elisabeth and her family's visit came and they all had a good time. Vernon and Petunia had to struggle to continue saying nice things about Harry all the evening but managed. All in all everything had gone quite well. After that the friends started playing more often at Harry's and Dudley's home.

Harry was a bit sad the first time Elisabeth saw the garden and did not notice anything strange. Before, he had this tiny hope she was also magical, but was proven wrong.

Ariadnae had taken to staying inside Harry's room more and more as she got bigger. It was much warmer in there she explained, but he got the idea that she just wanted to snuggle while he read. Not that he minded.

One thing he noticed when he read was that almost all the books had some facts which differed from reality. For example sacrifices were considered evil, but harry knew that sacrifices were just another way to pay the price for using magic instead of using your own energy. After all, if sacrifices were bad, why did they do it in the bible?

Then came the day when Ariadnae laid her eggs. Harry was very excited but then understood it would take _another_ two months before they hatched. Ariadnae told him that her babies would have to make it through life by themselves but that she would also like Harry to speak with them so they also would be able to. He promised her the he would. For him it felt like he was going to get little brothers.

—

.:Ariadnae?:. Harry asked with his face still in a book.

.:Yes, Harry?:.

.:In this book they talk about familiars, they say they are 'magical creatures given sentience by your power'. It sounds a lot like us:. He said but somehow made it seem like a question.

.:Except the _magical_ part:. She pointed out.

.:Yeah, it really was too bad the ritual to give you magic did not work:. he trailed of. .:But wait, in one of my books a dragon gives a human magic when bonding together and later they could give and take magic from each other. Maybe we could share my magic!:. He was suddenly up and threw away the book. .:Let's try:.

They met outside again and Harry gathered some mice. .:I sacrifice these mice to share my magic with Ariadnae:. He started to feel the familiar pull on his magic and felt really excited. It started to travel in the direction of Ariadnae, but before it could reach her the mice he had sacrificed were gone and his magic snapped back into himself. After explaining what had happened they decided that Ariadnae would wrap herself around him while they tried again with more mice.

The same thing happened and while the magic this time reached her it was unable to anchor itself in time. They needed the magic to much faster if they were to be able to make it. Then he remembered something.

.:I think we should try using my blood again:. He said thinking of how fast his magic had been when he used it.

.:Okay, at least you will heal fast:. she said knowing he did not like hurting himself while getting blood to the sacrifice. .:Use some mice nevertheless if it needs some strength to anchor the magic in me:.

When all was gathered he started the ritual for the third time. .:I sacrifice this blood and these mice to share my magic with Ariadnae:. This time things really happened. The magic leaped out of him and surrounded his friend. Then it seemed to melt into her and then it was over. Both of them were quiet and wondered if it had worked.

Ariadnae looked at him and said out of nowhere. .:Shut up:.

Harry felt a small drain in his magic and wondered what she had done. When he tried to ask her he noticed that he could not speak. Then he realised what had happened and it made him gape.

Ariadnae laughed loudly. .:It's so much funnier when you're the one doing it:. She managed to say between the laughs. She stopped and looked intently at him again. .:Speak:. And he could speak again.

.:I should have seen that one coming:. He said a grudgingly. Ariadnae only chuckled.

—

The next morning Harry awoke to a lot of smells. Not just a lot of smells like someone was making breakfast, but rather like someone had dumped a big container with smelly things in his room and then then stuck them in his mouth. Wait a moment. His mouth? Why would he smell with his mouth?

He felt with his tongue inside his mouth and realised he somehow _could_ smell with it. That was weird. His canines had also gotten bigger and sharper. Had sharing his magic with Ariadnae made this? Had anything else changed? He had to get to the bathroom and check in the mirror. It was a good thing he usually awoke earlier than everyone else in the house so he did not meet anyone before he knew what to hide.

There was not really much that had changed. Of what he could see a lot of his body hair had disappeared and his pupils were slightly thinner, but not noticeable so. Between his mouth and nose he had four tiny slits which looked like some kind of moustache. They would be hard to hide. Other than that he did not see any change. He walked back to his room a little but not overly relieved. Once inside he saw Ariadnae.

.:Did it happen to you too?:. She asked.

.:If you mean the changes then yes:. He answered now worried for her instead of himself. He quickly explained the changes he had found in himself. .:Have you had them too?:.

.:I can see colours and hear things much better than before, but otherwise I haven't noticed anything:. Harry expected her but he could not find anything either than that she looked a little warmer.

.:We need to go hide my moustache thing:. He said and they quickly dashed outside so they would be finished with the ritual by the time Harry had to start breakfast. It did not take long time and soon only magical people could see his 'moustache'. He did the same with his eyes to be safe and then started making breakfast. Again he felt the sensation of seeing something hot, though this time it was the pan he was cooking on.

Was this another change? He supposed so as he had not been able to see when something was warm before. And why had gotten that moustache-like thing? That was plain weird.

In classes that day he suddenly felt his magic stir as if he used a ritual. He felt completely out of the loop as he hadn't felt a great emotion or even said something. Maybe it had been Ariadnae who had used magic? He would have to ask when he got home. When he felt the thirtieth magic surge for the day he was a little worried about her safety. The next surge expanded his magic and then he realised she must have done the power enhancement ritual, one mouse at a time. He wondered how big she would be now.

When he got home and saw her he was shocked, she had grown almost two decimetres and was much thicker. He let out an appreciative sound and she looked quite self-satisfied.

.:The first one did not do much, I think it was split between the two of us, but the rest made me fill up quite nice, if I say so myself:. She said while inspecting herself. .:I think I can use more of my venom now, and more easily:.

Harry completely lost his thoughts .:You have venom?:.

.:Yes but not enough to do anything to a human:. She said and Harry thought he heard a hint of sadness .:A small mouse may get a bit more complacent, but that's it. It's only neurotoxic, It doesn't kill per se:.

.:You should use the rest to get better venom!:. Harry said and tried to cheer her up again.

.:Can I? That's a great idea!:. She said now even happier than before. She hurried over to the rest of the mice and did just that. There was not that many left Harry noticed, less than ten even. Now there were none. .:I wonder how good it is now?:. He heard her mutter.

.:Well, go and test it then:. He said and she did not need to be told twice.

Harry went to his room to read while waited. While reading he felt several small surges of magic which made him smile. She was playing he realised, as much as a, now probably highly venomous, snake could play. She returned later that evening in a great mood.

—

During the following weeks Ariadnae had taken a liking to hunting and 'eaten with their magic' as she called it. He could tell when she did so by the magical surges. Their shared traits had also started to diminish for them both and he supposed that they soon would disappear completely. He both felt happy and sad at that as his temperature vision had been nice, but smelling with both his mouth and nose was a bit distracting. Therefore he usually kept his mouth closed during this time.

He had finally asked the librarian about some of the magic words which she had identified as close to latin. So he had taken to learning that. He had found a latin dictionary which he had started reading. Really boring but it was not like he could pay for a latin lesson. Maybe he could speak with one of his professors about it if they knew some. At least he knew a lot of latin words now, having a good memory really helped.

He felt a bewildered though when some of the latin words really did not make sense for the magic that happened. For example: They sent messages with something called close to 'I await a patron'. That did not make sense. Others, like 'I summon' really did summon things so that was good.

Avada kedavra was one of the spells that really had no meaning. Harry had searched the dictionary front to back and even top to bottom. Nothing. If it meant something it was not in latin. The good thing that came out of it was that he now knew every word in latin, but he had no knowledge of how you went about putting it together. Oh well, it was something at least.

Ariadnae had used all the mice she caught for herself during this time. She was getting better at catching bigger mice and even rats and she was thoroughly enjoying herself.

.:Our magic can't eat live animals:. She said one afternoon.

.:What do you mean?:. He asked bewildered.

.:I tried eating a badger… :. She started but was interrupted.

.:A badger!?:. He exclaimed shocked. .:Don't _they_ eat snakes?:.

.:Normally:. She said with a smirk. Harry wondered what kind of beast he had let loose. .:Anyway, I had it twitching with venom when I tried eating it to make my venom better, but it did not work. I had to kill it, which was a lot harder, before it worked. Oh, and I made myself unnoticeable to humans without magic so if someone sees I will know that they are magicians:.

.:The last part was…, actually quite responsible and good:. He said slowly. Then he understood what it meant. .:You can come with me to school!:.

.:Of course!:. She said happily, before returning to the last topic. .:But why do you think they can't be alive? No wait, I think I have an idea. If you could do that then everyone would go around sacrificing people without a care in the world:.

.:I guess:. He said unsurely. .:But in the books they can do it. Usually with some special ritual though. What did you say when you did it?:.

.:The usual, I sacrifice this badger to increase the strength of my venom:. She said, a bit hesitant.

.:Maybe you need to mention his life or something:. He said.

.:I'll try it it next time:. She said while thinking how she would phrase that.

—

Now that some months had gone by since he remembered his earlier life, things had managed to settle down a bit. He did not want to make a mistake like he had with his eyes. It had seemed like such a brilliant idea at the time, but now it was more of a burden than not. It was often his eyes had to painfully adjust from extremes in light, both dark and bright.

The next thing on his to-do-list was the animal turning. He had discussed several times with Ariadnae if she could think of any drawbacks from turning into an animal. She could. Too many for him to feel comfortable of the idea, in fact.

He could become a whale and crush the house or the opposite; a really small animal and _be_ crushed or eaten. Or he could become an animal who could not live on land, like some kind of fish. Then he would not be able to breath and probably panic. The worst possibility she listed though was becoming an animal without a brain, like a clam. How was he supposed to outlive that?

That Sirius had seemed in control of his actions as a dog seemed to oppose the theory of that, but Harry had no way of knowing how much in control Sirius really was. After all, Remus had never changed to his wolf form. Wolfs were more aggressive than dogs were and therefore maybe harder to control in polite company. But wolfs should be able to recognize packs?

While thinking of it he remembered that Ariadnae could think like a human even though she did not have a human brain. Did she think with magic? Would he think with magic while transformed? Did he think with magic right now? Ugh, more questions he could not answer. Since magic had entered his life they seemed to flock to him like seagulls to fish.

In the end all he could do was guess, but what if he guessed wrong? He could die, something he did not wish to do. Still, it would be cool to able to change. What if he could turn into something extinct? Like a dinosaur. That would definitely be worth a little work.

Anyway, these things were in the future. He would let Ariadnae play around with their magic for a little more before he could ask her for help to gather mice again. At any rate, she had helped him for over half a year. The least he could give her was a couple of more weeks to play.

In the meantime Harry would play with his friends, do chores or read books. He had read all his schoolbooks by now because it was simply too boring to try to learn by listening to their teachers repeating their lesson week after week. They did not, but it certainly felt so after a while.

His favourite class soon became PE where he could run around and basically play. Everyone in class soon noticed that he was quite fit, but he had problems with sports which required more than that. For example, some kids had been playing football with their dads since they took their first step. It did not matter if you were fit if you simply had not trained the movements enough.

Ariadnae had been with him to school one day but bored quickly. There was just little kids there and Harry was too busy playing with his friend and having classes to hang out with her. She supposed school was not really for her.

Elisabeth's birthday was just some days before Ariadnae's eggs would hatch, but Harry had no idea what to give to her. He fiddled with the idea of buying something but immediately discarded it as he was kind of low on cash. He simply had to go with whatever Petunia bought in his place. He could draw a picture and write something nice though.

In the end he made a picture of Elisabeth, Dudley and himself. It was not very beautiful at all, he definitely could not make a career out of his art, but Elisabeth seemed happy. Her mother even more so. She immediately snatched it away from the other birthday cards after Elisabeth had read it and proclaimed that it would go on the fridge.

Ariadnae was torn about her snakelets staying when her eggs would hatch. She wanted them to be independent and self-sustaining, but on the other hand she wanted to see if harry could be able to talk with her babies. In the end she settled on a compromise. She would be there but she would not hunt for them or let Harry do it.

It seemed to be an inborn ability in snakes to speak after Harry had spoken to them the first time, because all of the babies could do it. Harry, who had never met any babies before, thought the moment was wonderful. All the baby snakes would slither up on him while chatting about things and shifted subject every couple of seconds. That there were almost fifty of them did not make it easier. After a while they slithered away one after the other until only Ariadnae remained. Everything felt very quiet after that.

Being able to think clearly was a definite bonus for all the baby snakes and more of them than usual would survive to adulthood.

By this time Harry's snakelike changes had all disappeared, which made him wonder why they had gotten them in the first place.

—

A week before school would end, he felt the telltale surge of his magic telling him that Ariadnae was 'eating'. She had really grown since the start of the year and was now around six or seven decimetres long, which was about half the size the of the largest garter snakes apparently. Harry was sure she would reach that length in no time.

The surge was bigger though this time. Harry wondered what kind of animal she had found now. How did she even find so many in London? Animals were supposed to live in forests, not in cities! It did not really matter where she went anymore as she was unnoticeable, but still. Harry did not think he would be able to find even a tenth of what she did.

Then suddenly he felt like a clawed hand gripped his heart and he had trouble breathing. At the same time he felt powerful. Just like he had when he started doing magic. It was the feeling of invincibility. After a while the feeling started to slowly disappear. That was weird.

Both Dudley and Elisabeth were looking worried at him but he assured them that everything was fine. Now he only had to assure himself. It did not really work.

When he came home he was beside himself with worry and Ariadnae had anticipated that. She was lying outside waiting for him and looked up when he arrived. She hastily told him that she had only managed to eat something alive. It had apparently taken for the animal to be restrained physically with something else, in this case a rock which had been dropped on it. It also needed the animal to be conscious and you saying that you sacrificed its life and body.

She had not anticipated the gripping feeling inside her and at first also thought something had gone wrong. Luckily it had eased up in the end, but both of she and Harry had a bad feeling about the clawed hand. It must have been something bad, it was as though someone had their life in his or her hand and could crush them as easily as breathing.

They both agreed they would stay away from live sacrificing, at least until they knew what that clawed hand had been and how they could avoid it.

—

Today was the day of exams. All three of the friends were nervous thinking about it. What was even an exam? They knew it was some kind of test, but when they had asked an older student he had said they were the hardest test in all of school. That did not help their nerves.

Harry had taken to reading even the next years books so that he would be prepared for this nightmarish day. He had also helped both Elisabeth and Dudley so they would not fail. The three friends had almost destroyed themselves with worry the week before the exams.

When they stepped out of the room where they had done the exams they felt cheated. It had not been hard at all. They just had to do some simple maths, read something and write a few sentences. That was all. The teacher had even congratulated them on doing so well.

Harry had almost felt a little angry at that and had started showing of all he had learnt, even that which they were supposed to learn next year. The teacher smiled brightly and told him of a science summer-school which he could go to if he wanted. If only she had not mentioned it to Vernon.

—

The trip home in the car was quiet. It was not until they were home inside the explosion came.

"You cheated somehow didn't you?" Vernon asked in slightly lowered voice.

"I did not!" Harry defended himself, well, he had, but not in the way Vernon thought. Apparently that was the wrong thing to say.

"As if you could be better than Dudley", Spat Petunia. "He has worked so hard, got all top marks, but then you _somehow_ ", The word was icy cold. "knew everything you should learn next year too? And then you have the nerve to say you haven't cheated."

"I knew it because I studied from books in the library!" Now he had gone against his personal rule to never argue with Vernon and Petunia. Vernon's vein swelled and turned purple. That was not a good sign.

"Now listen here boy, I will not put up with your lies", Vernon shouted.

"Vernon, darling, think of the neighbours", Petunia whispered as if they stood listening just outside the windows. "Let me handle this", She turned to Harry again. "If what you claim is true, then you sneaked away from him to study just so you could show him that you were better? Did not even help him?"

Harry was about to say that if Dudley wanted to study more the library was open to everyone, but then he realised that it was not Dudley's fault. To attack Dudley felt like betraying their friendship and he did not want that. Therefore he did not know what to say, he _had_ slipped away from Dudley to read advanced books and he _had not_ taught Dudley about it. Maybe he was not such a nice friend after all?

"Nothing to say to that?" Petunia sneered. Vernon grabbed his arm and dragged him to the cupboard. He threw Harry inside and locked the door.

"Stay there until you've learnt your lesson!" Vernon said hotly through the ventilation shaft on the door.

Harry remembered the few times he had been locked inside here before. It had not been nice and he knew it would be a long time until they let him out. The last time he had been really hungry towards the end and when he had finally been free he had not regained his weight until magic entered his life. This time he had Ariadnae though, she would be able to eat for him.

What would he do now? He guessed he _could_ use magic to get out, but then what? Run into the arms of Vernon and get an even worse punishment? No, he would have to stay here. Maybe he could creep out at night and back in the morning. He did not really need anything outside right now and until he did he would not risk it. He decided to go to sleep early.

The next day was spent playing with some old stones he had played with when he was smaller and forgotten here when he changed rooms. It was not as fun anymore, but it could make time go faster. Sometime during the day he suddenly heard a voice outside.

"Did you really do that?" It was Dudley.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked uncertainly.

"I mean read a lot just so that you would be better than me and Elisabeth?" He asked.

Oh. Had Dudley taken his silence as a confession? "Of course not! If I wanted to be better than you I would never have helped you study in the first place. I would have just left you. Instead I chose to take time and make you understand everything. It's just that I like to learn new stuff, that's all." Harry tried to convince Dudley. He heard a relieved sigh from outside the door and decided to make it up to him. "I'll teach you when I get out of here, promise."

"Thanks Harry", Dudley said. "I'd get you something to eat but I can't open the door without a key." They had locked it with a _key_? Did they really not want him to get out or had they lost their trust for Dudley somehow? That would have been a first.

The day after that he was thinking. Especially about magic. He realised he had not done anything this semester really. After Ariadnae had gotten magic he had been lazy and had stopped doing things. He would have to make a new list and this time actually follow it through.

The animal turning would be good, maybe, depending on what animal he got. He would gather his courage and do it, damn the consequences. He wondered how much he had to sacrifice to do it. That felt like a situation were he would need to sacrifice blood again but he could not be sure. Better be safe than sorry though.

He might need a wand too. If he had one he could do all the spells his parents had done. The question was how to obtain one. Were they made, given by trees, song out of the earth or something abstract like finding your true self and magic therefore finding your wand so it materialised from within you? He had no way of knowing and yes, he had gotten a lot of imagination from his reading.

Back to wands. He guessed he could try the abstract version if he had to stay in this cupboard for long. There were a lot of ways to meditate if he were going to do that. For example was the flame and nothingness, letting go of your emotions, thinking of nothing, accepting all of your emotions as yourself and 'going inside himself' in search for his magic core. The part of accepting your emotions sounded more like a way to live than a meditation advise so he discarded that one. The only ones who were left was finding his magic core and the rest were all saying he should leave his emotions, just in different ways. The first one sounded much more appealing to Harry as that had magic in it. He could try the other if he failed he supposed.

The singing to the ground was more of a joke at first, however he could not be sure they did not do it. None of his books had been completely right about magic, so why would he? Anyway, he had no idea what to sing or say to the ground to give him a wand so he had to leave that idea until he met someone magical who could teach him how.

Asking trees for wands would also have to wait, only until he got out of here though. How would you even ask a tree? He had never asked a tree something before. He _could_ do snakespeak so why not treespeak as well? No ruling out that as a possibility.

The most likely, according to Harry, was the alternative of making a wand. Then he could use a ritual to make his. He would definitely try that when he got out, after he had tried speaking to the trees of course. Okay, it sounded kind of silly.

He was brought out of his musings when he felt the ward for fresh air disappear from his mind. He had been getting better at feeling the wards he supposed, as he was not actually inside it, but still felt it fall. That it would fall suddenly had been unforeseen. Why now and why only that one? Did the wards have a lifetime? That could be it. But how did you determine that lifetime and prevent it? He would rather not his unnoticeable ward failed at a bad time. The bigger the sacrifice, the longer the lifetime was the obvious answer, yet the ward to stop dead bodies from mouldering was still up and running with less sacrifice. The ward for fresh air could have been working a lot more than the other wards. Did that mean there was something extremely smelling in the garden? If that was it, than it was free to smell now, which was not very good.

He felt the familiar surge in magic and suddenly he could feel the fresh air ward outside again. He smiled, Ariadnae had come through. Did she know how to feel the wards now as well or did she simply start smelling things and decide to do something about it? He would have to ask her later.

So wards would fall after a while he mused and then stopped. How had the house ward survived this long time? This had to be examined. He started feeling for it and soon had it within grasp. There was the same feeling of protecting something. He would concentrate on one of his wards and see if he could get a clearer feel. He started with the protection ward.

It felt really strong. Had someone managed to overpower a ward so much that they could hold for 5 years while his only could hold for half a year? That was disconcerting. Just as he were about to let go of the ward he felt something stick out from the ward. Then he lost it. He started again with renewed interest. When he knew what he was looking for it did not take long time to find it again. It felt like a bump in the ward. The ward was otherwise a perfectly smooth dome and this something was a big blotch right in the middle of it. How could he have missed this before? Now that he knew of it his mind would not let him forget it. It was the same thing as when you noticed it hurt to touch somewhere on yourself and you just had to touch the spot all day long.

Then he noticed it was not just a simple blotch, something was coming out of it or rather, something was coming in through it. He felt a thread being connected to the blotch. It was through this the… magic, he felt now, was coming. Where was it coming from? It was really hard trying to follow the thread and he had to restart several times because he had lost concentration. By the time night came he was exhausted and only a little bit closer to finding the source.

He started again early next morning and when he finally made it, by lunchtime, he realised it led to himself. What was he to make of that? He could think of several plausible reasons. The ward could be protecting him and therefore needed to have a connection with him, it could be a way to recognize him as someone who was allowed to pass or it could be that he was constantly feeding magic to the ward.

The second option was unlikely as both Elisabeth and her parents had been over and inside the ward. How would they have been able to come inside if you needed a connection to enter? No, It had to be one of the other.

The first option may be easy to check if it was true, if the ward was supposed to protect all of the inhabitants of four private drive. If the ward was only supposed to protect him then it would be harder to know. Only one way to find out, checking. He searched the edge of the ward again after more blotches. It was much easier now that he had trained to follow a small thread magic thread. There were three more marks. They were considerably smaller though than the first one and did not have the streaming feeling of the big one. He would have to follow them before he made any assumptions about that.

He started, but immediately felt a headache coming. This thread was even thinner than the last one! It had taken Harry almost a day to follow that one. Now there were _three tiny_ threads he had to follow. He looked at the locked door and sighed. It was not like he had anything better to do, right?

He tried and failed so many times that even his dreams that night was filled with balancing on threads.

—

The next day he was let out and Vernon seemed almost sorry that Harry's hunger had not effected him as much as it had done the other times. Then it was back to the same schedule as last summer, make breakfast, get chased out to the garden and staying there until nighttime, except for food. Dudley tried playing with Harry in the beginning, but it was hard with Petunia trying to separate them as quickly as possible.

Harry stood in front of a tree in the garden. "Uhmm, hello?" He tried. No answer. "I was wondering if you could give me a wand?" Silence. Well it was worth a try. You may have to find some sort of magical tree, but he had no idea how to do that so it went in the to-do-when-i-meet-a-wizard-list.

Ariadnae looked quite bewildered at scene. Had Harry snapped inside his cupboard? .:What are you doing?:.

.:It was in this book I read, you had to ask a tree for a wand and it would give it to you:. Harry explained. .:I thought I could at least try. Now onto the next option!:. Ariadnae just looked on in amusement.

Harry broke of a twig from the tree and laid it on the ground. He found a thorn and made wounded his finger so he could drop a few drops of blood on the twig. .:I sacrifice this blood to make this twig a wand!:. Nothing happened. Harry was getting rather used to failed experiments.

.:Maybe you don't need a wand but rather something to conduct the magic:. Ariadnae suggested.

Why not? .:I sacrifice this blood to make this twig a conductor for my magic:. The black flames licked the blood and Harry felt his magic jump out of him and surround the stick. When all was finished he was very excited. He had his own wand and was dying to try all the spells his parents had done. He remembered the summoning spell, that would be his first one.

He gathered his emotions, pointed his wand to a small stone laying a bit away and said "Accio stone!" He felt a small drain of magic through his arm, but the stone would not budge. He pressed more magic through the stick and the stone started vibrating. He felt giddy and then snap. The magic had returned, the stone stopped vibrating and in his hand was a broken wand. It was the strangest tear Harry had ever seen, it was all along the stick from the bottom to the top, like something had tried getting out of it from inside. Well it was useless now.

.:I thought we had succeeded:. Harry said sadly.

.:I'm sure it was only a problem with the wood:. Ariadnae consoled. .:We'll just have to find the right one:.

.:Yeah:. Was the only answer. .:I've also decided to find the animal I can turn into, I think it is something like an inner animal. One book said everyone has one and it symbolises your personality in some way:. He suddenly smiled. .:Now I really hope I'm not a clam:. Ariadnae chuckled.

They both agreed they would probably need some more sacrifice than blood and Ariadnae said she would find something for tomorrow.

Now that he had started with his quest for a wand together with preparing for his inner animal ritual he felt calm. He had managed to stress himself up inside his cupboard thinking he was not getting good at magic fast enough. Handling himself better he sat down and continued his searching for where the threads were connected.

When he finally accomplished it he almost knew he had been right. The thread had gone inside Aunt Petunia's head. He was certain the other two would go to Vernon and Dudley respectively. It took only five tries to manage to follow the second one to… himself? That was not supposed to happen. The last one only took three tries and led to Dudley.

Why did Harry have two threads going to him and Vernon none? Now that he knew the feeling of the smaller threads better he understood they were anchored in Petunia's, Dudley's and his heads. Why would it need that? His other wards did not need that. At least he didn't think they did. But why would it not anchor in his uncle?

At least now he knew some things. He was supplying the ward with magic continuously. That was why it did not fall after all this time! It was repowered by himself all the time.

He took up the thorn again and thought that he really should find something better for injuring himself. Could he steal a knife? No that would injure him way to much, he only needed a few drops. Maybe a needle? He would look in the house later. Right now this would suffice.

.:I sacrifice this blood to connect myself to the air-freshening ward to give it magic when needed:. It was rather longwinded, but Harry hoped it would still work. And it did. His magic raced out to the ward-line and connected just as his connection to the protection-ward. After having followed the small anchor-threads the magic-threads felt like rivers. It took a lot of power from him and he was suddenly afraid it would suck him dry. After a while the drain diminished and he felt really tired. It was not enough to pass out, but he knew he would sleep well that night.

Ariadnae suddenly dashed out from somewhere and was on him in the next second. .: _What_ was _that_?:. She demanded angrily.

.:I kind of powered the air-freshening ward:. Harry said elusively.

.:And how did you do that to make us pay with over half of our magic?:. She forced with her eyes slitted.

.:I looked at how the house-ward was able to keep standing so long and noticed… :. He started explaining his discoveries .: … And I decided I would do the same thing to the wards in the garden. I didn't know it would become this. Now that I think about it, it smells rather good out here doesn't it?:. He finished, trying to change the conversation.

.:Yes:. She said, having cooled down by now .:I think we should do it to the rest too, soon, but we need more magic before that. I will endeavour to eat more after your animal change, so we can afford the drain:.

.:Great!:. Harry said enthusiastically.

—

By next morning he was in perfect shape again and really excited about the day. After breakfast he rushed out to find Ariadnae lying beside a badger. Harry felt a bit bad about the badger, it looked so nice and friendly, not at all like the mice and rats who only looked evil.

.:Do we have to use that?:. He asked hoping to avoid it. He knew Ariadnae ate them more regularly recently, but it was another thing to actually _see_ it dead.

.:Why not?:. She asked confusedly.

.:It's just, it looks so nice:. He tried to convey what he felt. .:Never mind, I only thought…, no, forget I said anything:. He had made up his mind to not make a deal out of it. .:I sacrifice this badger to be able to transform into my inner animal:. Nothing. .:Oh, please work as I want you to sometime!:.

Ariadnae snickered.

.:Come on!:. He cried exasperatedly. .:Why does nothing work on the first try? I can't even _think_ of the reason it didn't work this time!:.

Now she laughed openly.

.:We'll just connect ourselves to some other ward today and I'll think of something about the inner-animal thing:. He decided and added under his breath. .:I don't even know if it is an inner animal or not anymore:.

—

Tomorrow was a big day. Harry had honestly forgotten all about it, but now that it was so close he was really excited. Too bad he had forgotten to look up information on how you were supposed to celebrate summer solstice though. He reassured himself that there would be other solstices he could celebrate later. He would just let his magic dance around as it had half a year ago.

If he were to venture a guess he supposed summer solstice were in celebration to the day and winter solstice to the night, but he was not certain. It would not be a stretch to think summer solstice were in celebration for the sun, but he did not think the winter solstice had more moon than any other day. Then it would just be celebration to absence of the sun. That seemed kind of strange.

Though he supposed it could be more symbolic. Many of his fantasy books had spoken about elements and the sun was one big ball of fire, maybe the day of fire? The opposite would be water, or maybe ice? Now that seemed to fit awfully well.

He snuck out early next morning to catch the first rays of sunshine. Both he and Ariadnae were waiting with great anticipation. In just a couple of minutes it would happen.

He felt his garden-wards flicker suddenly and he was reminded that he had not connected himself to his non-deteriorate-ward yet. Plenty of time for that later. The wards started to change a little and Harry was surprised, did his wards feel it was summer solstice too? The more it started to light around Harry the more his ward started to change. It was weird though, they did not start change for the better, it felt rather like they were shying away from the sun. Why did they behave like that?

He was starting to get a bad feeling about it all. His friend seemed a bit nervous as well, laying in the grass with her head flicking side to side. Then came the first rays. Pain was the only thing on his mind at that moment. He felt like every ray hit him set him on fire and there was nothing he could do about. It must have been only a couple of seconds, but it felt like an eternity until he was bitten by something. He looked towards the source and saw Ariadnae.

.:Get yourself together, we must get out of the sun!:. She shouted to him and he blinked warily through the pain. .:Now, before it gets to strong!:.

No sun sounded like an excellent idea. He tried standing up but everything felt even worse as he exposed more area for the rays to hit him. He bit his lip and scooped up Ariadnae in his arms, she had really grown heavy, but now was not the time to think about that. What in reality was only a couple of meters to the house felt like a marathon while being burned. He made it inside and closed the door. Luckily nobody was up yet or this would be really hard to explain.

.:Let's go to your room before anyone wakes up:. Ariadnae said while catching her breath.

They quickly made it there and rolled down the curtains. It was still shining through the cracks but none of them knew how to do anything about it. While the sun was growing stronger outside it was apparent that they needed more block against the sun.

It was Ariadnae who, in the end, used magic to completely block out any sun from the room. While sitting in the pitch-black darkened they tried to assess their injuries. Harry's back was sore and it felt like a really strong suntan gone wrong. His neck, face and hands were full of blisters and never had he been happier for his fast healing. When they could get out again they had to do the same for Ariadnae. She was laying very still and looked like someone had set fire to her, dosed her with water and then repeated the process a few times. This was not how he had envisioned the day.

.:This was rather disappointing wasn't it?:. He sighed.

 **A/N**

 **Thank you for reading!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N**

 **I'll continue writing while my muse is still running high**

 **.:** Parseltongue **:.**

 **Chapter 3**

"Where were you yesterday?" Vernon asked as he dropped down for breakfast. "Petunia had to cover for you while you were lazing around and not answering any of our calls."

Harry had managed to make it down the next morning and had just finished breakfast. He was still quite exhausted, but nowhere near as bad as Ariadnae. He was not sore anymore, but he was sporting a rather red suntan. A quiet mumbling was his answer as the rest of the family arrived. Petunia seemed torn between giving Harry an earful and just letting him go to where he wasn't seen or heard. The compromise was him not getting any breakfast.

Ariadnae had somehow managed to get down to the garden ahead of Harry, but did not seem to have any energy to move anymore. The skipped breakfast did not help the mood.

.:We need to heal you and eat:. He started. .:Preferably in that order, I can't hunt as well as you:.

But how would he go about healing her? It was a catch 22. He needed animals to heal Ariadnae so she could hunt, but they needed to hunt to get animals. Could he somehow smuggle out something from his relatives? That would in all likelihood not go well, they were already cross with him about yesterday. He did not need to add more reasons for anger. Then he got an idea. Had he not used magic without sacrifice almost a year ago? Well, the correct term would be that he sacrificed some of his stored magic, but the general idea was the same. It could actually work in this situation. He remembered that to use his magic like that he should not say what he was sacrificing, just what he wanted to be done.

.:I'll try using my energy to heal you:. He said and began preparing for using his magic. Ariadnae's head shot up and she looked like she wanted to argue, but she chose to remain silent. .:Be healed!:. Unfortunately it didn't work. That wasn't completely true though as he _had_ felt his magic stir but it didn't do enough to help Ariadnae heal. He ruled out using his blood immediately as that would only make his magic faster, not stronger.

.:I think I can manage something small if I'm careful:. Ariadnae said and slithered away slowly.

Harry lied down on the grass to catch a breath. The last day had taken a lot out of both of them and his eyes soon felt really heavy. He awoke to small surges all day, but in the end his friend came back fully healed and with a full stomach. They both decided they needed to enhance their healing power even if that might alert someone that something was not normal with them. It was just not safe not to.

—

Both Ariadnae and Harry became a little afraid again of their magic. It was after all the first time the magic had hurt them with no apparent cause. It had hurt them before, like with the clawed hand around their hearts, but this time it was like the sun had _wanted_ to hurt them. Luckily, they had not felt any discomfort being in the sun after the solstice.

Now they knew that playing with magic could be dangerous, but the problem was that none of them wanted to give it up. For Harry it was his only chance to see his parent's friends and the rest of the people with magic again. For Ariadnae it was the saving force from being just another snake and her tie to Harry. She would not give up that for anything. So they decided to stick with what they knew and be very careful if they wanted to test new things.

What they knew was safe were the power-enhancing rituals and the ward-building. Harry supposed he would have to expand his knowledge in these subjects rather than try completely new ideas. Though he felt a bit bad about it actually. There was so many different subjects his books mentioned that he would just love to do. Like creating crystals to store magic, make magic potions or why not foretell the future? That idea had merit though. He could have one of those decks of cards and know his own future!

No, wait. That would not do. They had just determined that they would not test new magic subjects and he was thinking about how to do one anyway. Even though he had not expanded his knowledge on magic that much over the year he felt a bit closed up now that they decided not to research it. Not weird in a good way though, rather in a 'He had to do this or he would not be able to stop thinking about it' way.

But what about the ongoing war between the wizards? He _needed_ to know more about his magic if he was to help out with that. First he could bring Ariadnae up to speed on feeling wards and the threads connecting them to people. Then he would have to learn to cast spells without any rituals, but he still had no wand to help with that. Was it possible to do it without one? It didn't work when he tried to heal Ariadnae.

.:I want to try some things with magic:. He said and she glanced at him curiously.

.:I thought we decided not to?:. She asked in skeptic manner.

.:It's nothing new per se. I want to see how much we can do by using only the magic within us:. He explained carefully. .:It's like, I _know_ my parents did some things with their wands, but I don't understand why they used a wand. It feels like it should be possible without and I want to try it:.

She looked at him with narrowed eyes. .:Ok:. She finally said. .:But only the spells they did:.

Harry lit up and quickly found a stone. He prepared himself as he always did before a spell or ritual and said "Accio stone". His magic surged, but did not lash out towards the stone, it actually felt a bit conflicted if that was possible. Like it did not know what to do or like something was missing. Well, he remembered that they moved their wands around when they said the word. Maybe the words were only half the spell and the wand-moving was the other half. Who had come up with that and why? It felt overly complicated really. .:Summon stone:. He hissed instead.

The stone wiggled a bit but didn't do anything more.

.:Why does it only work some times and other times not?:. Harry asked feeling rather down .:There must be something we're missing. I mean, the silencing spell worked, didn't it?:.

.:Maybe it requires a lot more power than the silencing spell?:. Ariadnae mused and Harry narrowed his eyes.

.:Summon stone!:. he shouted trying to direct as much of his magic as he could. Neither of the pair was prepared for the result. Not did wiggle as it did before, but neither did it come flying towards Harry. Instead it exploded in a most spectacular manner. The pair could only stare at the remains of the stone laying all over the garden.

.:I think we should hold off on performing spells without sacrifice for now:. the snake said after a while.

.:Ok:. was her only answer.

So apparently you did not need a wand to cast spells, but there was also a rather big chance of something exploding in your face if you weren't careful. He was mostly just relieved that neither of them had been hurt this time as they stood a bit away from the stone. Was this why you needed a wand? Safety? It certainly made more sense.

.:That was rather taxing as well:. Ariadnae let out.

Oh, yeah he had used his own magic to pay for the outcome and it had been rather costly. Did that mean he would get a lot more magic as he got older or did it mean he would have to make his spells cost less? If that were the case the wizards and witches really didn't like to pay with their magic to use their magic, it was not like the magic would disappear after they used it. It would come back sooner or later, right? Fear flooded him when he thought about losing all his magic by using to much.

How did his magical storage even work? He had to know. In some of the books he had read it worked like a rechargeable battery that slowly filled up again when you did not use it and had a maximum that could, in different ways, be enlarged. This was how he had always thought it was. In other books it worked like money in a wallet, you could fill up and use it but when it was empty you would have to fill it up by yourself again. He would have to feel for it in the morning to see if the magic had returned by then. Harry explained his thoughts to his snake.

.:We'll have to wait for a while to see what happens though, I don't think it recharges very fast, if it even does:. she said.

The next day they both felt that the magic had returned and they concluded a little relieved that the rechargeable battery-theory was the correct one and that they would not lose their magic in _that_ way at least.

—

When the new semester for the school started Harry was relieved. They had stopped experimenting with new magic and harry had managed to teach Ariadnae how to feel wards better and follow the strings attached to them. They still didn't know why uncle Vernon didn't have a string attached to him though. They had made the quicker healing ritual on both of them so they wouldn't be completely out of it if something like the summer solstice ever happened again.

Ariadnae continued hunting and Harry had completely given up that part of his magic for her. There simply was no reason for him to do it as well.

The only problem now was that he was bored out of his mind during the lessons. He would sit hour in and out and just look out through the windows and hope for time to move faster. He looked forward to all breaks and he had and PE were he could move and do something that wasn't just sitting around all day.

His teachers first thought he was just slacking off but after they noticed he could answer all questions they asked him they understood he was bored because he already knew everything they wanted to teach. He had after all already studied ahead and showed he knew everything for this year's test.

They started handing him harder books instead and he would read ahead of his class. It wasn't really more fun, but at least he wasn't bored all the time.

Harry was actually rather stumped with his school experience. All they did was memorise stuff! He hoped they would do more as they grew older, but as he could remember everything he read it was just so boring. The subject which engaged him the most was math as you could always find new problems to solve. Though even that turned a bit boring when you could easily remember all the similar solutions you were provided.

The teachers didn't know what to do with him as learned so much faster than everyone else. They had mostly different ideas on what to do. His math teacher seemed very happy that he learned so quickly and gave him new problems to solve that were always a little too hard for him to solve. It was great and he got along very good with her. But not every teacher was that nice. His history teacher for example was horrible. It seemed he had taken ill to Harry's, what he called, uppity nature. His solution was to give Harry the largest, most boring book Harry had ever read which explained in very great detail the history of the British Isles.

Yes, he did remember everything he read in it, but it was so boring! It actually came as a relief every time he paused Harry to quiz him on what he had read. It didn't help Harry though that he could answer it all in great detail.

—

"Why are all teachers treating you so good?" Dudley asked suddenly a break.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked bewildered. He was quite certain their history teacher hated him.

"They always give you extra work or something different from everyone else" Elisabeth piped up.

"No, our history teacher hates me!" Harry denied vehemently.

"But he lets you read in that special book all the time!" Dudley whined "We also want to do that!"

Harry stared at him in surprise.

"You _want_ to read his large history book?" it was actually quite inconceivable. How could anyone _want_ to do that? It was against nature to want that, but if they really wanted to, who was he to stop them? They went inside and the big history book was brought forth. It was a large brown book, with yellowed pages that screamed old. Both his friends opened it with great anticipation, as if the secret to all secrets was inside.

"Is it all like this?" Dudley asked after a while. He looked like someone had kicked a puppy.

"Yes, it's all like this" he answered with a sigh.

"How can you remember any of this?" Elisabeth asked in bewilderment.

"I simply do" Harry said, not wanting to go into explanation on his magical rituals.

"You can keep it" Dudley decided and closed it.

—

Even though the history book was oh so boring, it still had some parts which were interesting. One of those parts were pagan religion and especially the wheel of the year. They spoke of rituals which the pagans did in six different times of the year. Yule, Imbolc, Ostara, Beltane, Midsummer, Lughnasadh, Mabon and Samhain. Most were celebrated through burning a fire in different ways, but they seemed so much more like what a true wizard or witch would do. He had also already felt that both Yule and Midsummer were very special. To see if he were right he had tried to reconstruct a Samhain ritual.

That was why he stood outside in the backyard on Samhain night. He had brought a candle which he had lit and some bread he was supposed to have eaten earlier. He was a bit scared of this as today was the day that veil between this world and the spirit world was supposed to be at it's thinnest. He had read you could call on the spirits who wanted to speak with you. There was really only two spirits he would possibly like to speak with, but he also wanted very much to speak with them.

It didn't matter if it was only for a moment. He wanted to meet them, to feel less alone, but what if they were disappointed in him? That he hadn't done enough in whatever war they were fighting in. He took a second to gather himself. They shouldn't be disappointed about that, he didn't even know if there still was a war. Though facts were depressingly pointing that way.

The problem was all the spirits he didn't want to speak with. The book had said that all spirits who wanted to speak with him would gather. He didn't know who would want that, but maybe he had grandparents who wanted to speak with him? Or someone who died in the war who wanted to take revenge upon him. No, he hadn't killed anyone or had he killed that Voldemort fellow? Maybe this wasn't such a good idea?

To not anger anyone he would call upon anyone who would want to speak with him to come and if any of his relatives wanted to speak to him he would also call upon his ancestors. It would be better to invite them then not invite them and therefore angering them.

So that was why he was kneeling barefoot (It just didn't feel right not to) on the grass with a candle and some bread in front of him. He had Ariadnae beside him who was looking very worried. She seemed to be recalling what had happened that summer. He looked into the darkness of the night and the shadows seemed to lean towards him in anticipation of what was about to happen.

The candle-light flickered and Harry tried to convince himself that he wasn't scared. It was a risk, but he was willing to take it to see his parents again, if only for a moment. What did they look like? Was his other as beautiful as he imagined her? His father as proud and great? He knew his mother had red hair, but he hadn't been able to see more of sharp picture of her. Neither of his father.

He didn't want to mess up anything with his magic so he had decided to use his snakespeak to properly direct his intentions. He breathed in a deep breath and the night seemed to still. It was as if everything was waiting, ready to sprint and he was the only one who could let loose the reigns.

.:I invite my parents, Lily and James Potter to share this supper with me. I also invite all my ancestors and anyone else who wants to share with me and my friend, Ariadnae:. Harry called out in the night. His magic fluttered and all the trees seemed to fall away into the night. Only darkness remained.

A chill passed through his body and their magic fluttered like candle he had lit before. Now that he thought about, it fluttered exactly like the candle before him did, at the same time. If nothing else, that was really scary and had him transfixed by it.

Suddenly another chill blew through his body and the candle flickered out. He looked up to see a transparent figure gliding towards him and his friend. No, two figures floating and stopping before him. He couldn't breath. It was them, his parents. They looked down lovingly towards him and sat down on either side of him.

"Mum, dad?" he whispered and his mother laid a hand upon his cheek where he felt a tear had started to fall. Through the touch he felt all the love she had for him. His mother was here, oh, so beautiful. Red hair with gentle, green eyes, the same as his. Both she and his father looked to be about twenty. His father. So great and when he laid his hand upon Harrys head Harry could feel his love as well. They stood there while Harry's tears continued to fall.

"Always remember that we love you Harry" his mother said soothingly.

"We will always love you son" his father agreed.

"I love you too" Harry whispered back.

They both smiled and stepped back with his mother sitting on his left side and his father opposite of him.

A broad-shouldered old man was waiting outside of the circle made up of his parents, him and Ariadnae. He was cleanly shaved with a mop of hair very similar to the one both Harry and his father had, though his hair was parted in the middle. Harry wondered if he wasn't related to him through his dad somehow. He stepped forward and looked intently upon Harry which made him very nervous.

"My name is Ignotus Peverell. If you're sure about this path I expect you need this. As my descendant, I leave you my legacy, may you be protected from those of Death's touch" he said and raised his hand towards Harry's forehead. When the fingers touched his naked skin he could feel something chilling flow from his head into his magic. The man then stepped backward and sat down in the circle which somehow expanded without anyone moving.

Next to come forward was an old woman, looking very much like Ignotus did, but with less broad shoulders and longer hair.

"I am Helen Peverell. Your call to Samhain was faulty, but it did not lack in intent. If you ever visit the halls of Gringott's you may open vault 57" she said as she lifted her hand to touch his forehead. The same chilling feeling as before was felt and added to his magic.

She backed away, sat down next to Ignotus and the circle somehow expanded yet again. He could now see that they weren't alone in the darkness anymore. There was hundreds of people around them. All sitting quietly, waiting for something to happen. They were all here for him and only him. He felt truly touched that all of them would care so much for him.

Soon though the quiet became a little unbearable as everyone looked towards him. What was he supposed to do? His eyes flickered around and saw that even his parents were looking at him expectantly. What did they want? Weren't they supposed to share a sup… Oh.

His face reddened almost comically and he hastily reached for the bread he had prepared. He broke off a bit and put it in his mouth. Then he turned to pass it to Ariadnae, but realised she would never be able to break of a part so helped her break of one and passed it to Helen, who sat beside her. He didn't even consider that she might not be able to hold the bread as she was a spirit, but luckily there was no problem. She seemed to break of a part, but there was still just as much left and the broken of part was translucent in nature. The bread was then passed around the full circle until it even his mother had taken and eaten a part. She then passed it back to Harry who put it back on the ground.

"Thank you all for sharing this supper with me" he said, still emotional.

The ghosts seemed to take this as their cue to fade away into the night starting with those at the edge and moving slowly towards the inner circle. Then the ghosts in the circle also started fading outwards from the centre along with shadows.

The backyard somehow managed to fall back into place and finally the nightly noise, which he hadn't even noticed disappear, returned. The friends sat there for a while just lost in their own thoughts

.:Wow:. Ariadnae said finally. .:That was something:.

.:Yeah, it truly was:. Harry responded.

That night Harry truly slept well, with the knowledge that his parents had truly loved him and he vowed to himself that he would make them proud.

—

It was strange knowing that the Wheel of the Year was true and that christianity wasn't. Shame on his uncle and aunt harping on about being a good christian. Ah, no, he didn't know that christianity was false, not really. He just knew that the Wheel of the Year was true.

He now knew that even if the magicals were hidden from the muggles at some point they were probably living together, hence all the legends about magic. That also meant that the older the information was the more likely it was to be true as it would then have been written by someone who actually knew what they were talking about.

Then he should maybe consider Mary Poppins as that book had been quite old, maybe not as old as the legends of pagans, but still quite old.

Who was he kidding? He just _really_ wanted a Mary Poppins bag.

Therefore Harry was standing in the garden. He was standing alone as his friend had left to hibernate. In front of him was his bag and a few mice Ariadnae had left for him until she awoke again. It was sweet, but he'd much rather have her than any mice at all. Too bad he didn't have a choice.

Anyway, he had actually thought this through quite well and realised that having unlimited space was probably a bad idea all around. First, it would be costly, and he wouldn't get new mice until spring. Second, if he put something in there it would fall forever and he would never be able to reach it physically. Third, if he somehow managed to succeed in using the accio spell it would still take forever for whatever he put into it to get summoned from a free fall from whenever he put it in.

He would just have to enlarge its inside a little bit, say three times? He just hoped this worked and that his bag wouldn't blow up as the stone did before. This was technically not a ward or self-enhancement, so there was quite the probability that it would blow up in his face. The other possibility would be that it would succeed, only to fail at a later date, but he was hoping he could bind it to himself as he had done with all his wards.

Luckily for him it actually worked and was remarkably similar to how his wards worked. Therefore he easily made another enchantment on it. He at least thought it should be called enchantment as it stayed forever. So his bag now was three times as big on the inside as it was on the outside and he had also spelled it unnoticeable by muggles. The unnoticeability truly was the greatest invention of his ever. He could do whatever he wanted and nobody would notice a thing.

It was so cool! You could carry all kinds of stuff in it! It… was actually rather lame now that the hype had died down. Because really, you could carry stuff in it. Sure he had broken a law of physics, but he was certain there was better ways of using this particular broken law than _carrying stuff._

What he hadn't taken into account when he made it was that when he filled it, it was heavy. Heavy, like if he were carrying a three times as big bag, which he actually was when he thought about it. He sighed, apparently breaking one law of physics didn't mean you broke all the others at the same time; mass was still mass.

There was two possible ways he could fix this problem. One was to somehow decrease the mass of the object, but it was too hard for him to wrap his mind about that specific break of a natural law. How was he supposed to decrease the mass of an object without making it smaller or more brittle? He had read in a physics book in the library about atoms and an atom had an exact mass. It just made him queasy thinking of it.

The second way was to somehow decrease the gravity of the bag, the force of which the earth pulled on it. That somehow felt much better as there wasn't anything substantial that could vanish. So what if gravity decreased on an object? He knew there were probably people out there who would be shouting in denial that such a thing was true, but honestly, he couldn't care less.

It wasn't really that hard to apply the third enchantment on the bag to reduce gravitation a tenth. He was also sure there were better ways of doing this enchantment, but it wasn't really necessity at present. It was a great investment though, if he ever had something magical to keep he had a portable way to keep it hidden.

That was another thought for later, he should make something which alerted him of other magical people in his vicinity. He didn't know any way of knowing whether someone was magical or not so he hoped it would work out as easily as his bag when he tried. With the war ongoing outside he would have to make sure he didn't meet any of the enemies. Another thought was alerting him of magical objects near him as well. And of course magical creatures. Who knew if there were vampires walking around hidden with all normal people.

—

He hadn't even thought of english as a hard subject until they had a surprise test about explaining hard-to-know words in the class. The teacher, who was the same one as they had in history, looked considerably pleased with himself when Harry left some blanks in his answers. It was as if he wanted Harry to fail.

He would show that git. He had taught himself all the latin words hadn't he? He could do the same with an english dictionary and then the teacher wouldn't be able to laugh.

Both Dudley and Elisabeth had laughed at him when the break had finally come and he had led them all to the library with such determination that it was almost comical.

"Your fights with the teacher are _so_ funny!" Elisabeth managed to break out between the laughs.

"My what?" Harry stopped bewildered in his tracks.

"Your fights!" Dudley said as if that would explain it all. At Harry's look he decided it probably wasn't. "Everybody knows the teacher doesn't like you, you always get much harder questions than everyone else and I'm sure you're thinking of learning _all_ the english words just to able to win against him next time"

Well, he wasn't wrong about the last part, but Harry would sooner die than admit such a thing. He was _not_ trying to learn english just one-up the teacher. He did it to learn as much as he could to make his parents proud. That was the only reason. Anything else was ludicrous.

"I would never do such a thing!" the effect was rather ruined though as he had already found the dictionary and was trying to hide it behind his back. "But didn't you say you thought all teachers like me?"

"Well, we did", Dudley explained "but then his questions became so ridiculous it was just funny".

His friends just continued to laugh while leaving to go outside. He sighed and started skimming the pages. Skimming was something he had learnt to do while reading about history. As he actually remembered what he had skimmed through it went much faster for texts he had to read. It was still quite hard to do without missing some parts, but as he remembered where he missed something he could go back and read those parts again. It more than halved his reading time and which he could spend doing other things.

Though that didn't help in his history class. When he was finished with his old book his teacher had already got three new ones for him to read. He knew he was going to know all countries history by the time his teacher ran out of books.

What would happen when he knew more about history than his teacher?

He frowned. He would likely find some other strange thing Harry didn't know about so he would fail, just like he had done in english with the hard words. Better check what the older kids were supposed to know so he wouldn't be blindsided as easily. A look was thrown to the dictionary, he was never going to finish it today, better bring it home with him. His teacher wouldn't know what hit him next time he had a test like the one he just given them.

—

Yule was soon coming and he had thought hard on what had happened on Samhain. It was incredible really. He now _knew_ that his parents loved him and that made all the difference. All the little insults that had been thrown his way about his parents were so easily shrugged of now. He could stand taller as if somehow his parents were lifting him up. He felt a confidence that hadn't been there before start to bloom in his chest.

It was strange though how the Peverell people had decided to show up. What had Ignotus meant when he said that he left Harry his legacy? It had something to do with magic and 'those with Death's touch'. Whatever that meant.

That he looked very much like his father was almost certainly a sign of him being one of Harrys ancestors through his father's side. If not both of his parents side, but that would be decidedly weird, so he let go of that thought almost immediately. If Ignotus was his ancestor, then Helen should also be an ancestor of his. She was named Peverell after all.

His thoughts turned again to the 'death's touch' thing. Whatever did _that_ mean? He was quite certain there was a capital in the beginning of Death, as if death was a person, not a state. He didn't actually have that much problem imagining it really, as imagining magic had really changed all of his perceptions on this world already. That abruptly brought up one of the most asked questions of this world as well; was god also real? But if there was someone called death, there would probably be several gods and he knew pagans celebrated several gods. He would try to ask some of the spirits next Samhain if they were willing to answer some questions.

But if Death was a person, what would his touch do? The most obvious were the spirits of dead people, but it didn't seem as though any of them were angry and would try to kill him. Could there be others of 'Death's touch'? In the muggle stories there were many creatures who dealt with or came from beyond the world of living, such as zombies, ghosts, walking skeletons, liches and maybe even vampires. There were tons of others of course, but many of them were only variations of the some other creature. Did such creatures exist as well? If then he was very happy for a protection from those of 'Death's touch'.

If such creatures existed then surely things like elves, dragons and dwarfs existed as well? Oh, he knew dwarfs existed, but he meant dwarfs like in the magical variant, not short humans. There was no way to know, but he should probably do research to find out at least the name and defining features of such creatures. The older the description was the higher chance for it to be true.

The name Gringott's, however, was a bit more easier to understand as he actually had some memories of his parents arguing about what they should be moving there some time before their deaths. That and they were withdrawing money once in a while from there. So chances were it was some kind of bank together with a storage area. As they had moved around quite a bit before settling down and somehow hiding the house in something called fidelius his mother had been adamant that they drop everything but the essentials there.

The word 'vault' was another clue that it was probably a bank, wherever else could you find vaults? He grinned to himself, magical vaults, wasn't that very exciting? He couldn't wait to see all the things his parents had left him and whatever was in vault 57. Maybe he even had things from his from his godparents? No, that would mean they were dead and he absolutely did _not_ want to believe that. They were still fighting the war and when Harry joined he would meet them and they would proudly fight side by side.

He would try to call on them on next Samhain to see if any of them were dead, but as they hadn't come when he asked anyone who wanted to speak with him to come, he was still hopeful that they hadn't died. He hoped they weren't dead and just didn't want to speak with him, because that would actually hurt a little bit.

He was so lucky that he had found the pagan religion to turn to as it had really filled him with hope that he would soon again rejoin all the other magicals. He would have to be more active in his role as a believer though as he had only really celebrated one of the many rituals there were. If one ritual could become so big, then how would the others feel? He knew there were at least eight main celebrations and there were mentions of some smaller once as well.

The first celebrated day of the year was imbolc, where you celebrated the coming of the sun, someone called saint Brigid or earth and water. As there were several different ways to do it he wasn't sure how to choose only one of them. He _had_ mentioned before that the older the information was, the more likely to be true it was and the oldest one in this case seemed to be the sun. It was also a day of purification by fire and strongly associated with visions of the future. The purification probably wasn't very important for him, but he didn't really know what he was to purify from what. Maybe from other's curses or something?

The second one was Ostara, which was again about the sun and that made his theory about celebrating the sun on imbolc more probable. It was about the sun's takeover from the night and you were supposed to plant something in celebration of this. There weren't any mentions of fire, but he should probably bring a candle just in case. It was after all the sun you were celebrating and fire and the sun was kind of associated with each other.

The third one was Beltane and it was all about protection. Fire, of course, again was used and you asked it to protect you from whatever you needed protection from. Mentions were also found of connecting yourself with the sun. It was also sometimes called Walpurgis night.

Then there was Midsummer which was really easy to find information on, but it also held the most varied answers. However, the main point was that you celebrated the sun. Maybe that was why the sun had burnt him so? Because he hadn't celebrated it properly? He would have to be careful though so there wasn't a repeat of last year's happenings.

After that was Lughnasadh which was about the dying of life. It was also a day of physical exertion so he would have to think of something like that. Wait a moment, of dying, did that mean Death? Did you start to celebrate death in the autumn just as you had celebrated the sun during the spring? It seemed probable.

Mabon was the day when night and day was the same length and it was both a goodbye to sun and acceptance of the everything dying. Again was it a celebration of Death. He really thought he was on to something here. Apples were by some reason sacrificed on this day. It was also a day to strengthen your home as you would spend most of the time inside during the next six months.

Samhain was as he had already witnessed, a call to dead spirits to share a meal together. It was also a day to remember and honour Death. He would have to remember to thank Death next time.

The last and also the one he would do next was called Yule. It was deigned to the night and probably therefore to Death. You were supposed to find a log on your grounds or be gifted it and then burn it. The ash would then be spread out to symbolise rebirth and eternal life.

He wasn't going to be able to find a log in the garden and neither did he think someone would gift one to him. A simple stick would have to do and he hoped Death wasn't picky.

—

Today was the day of Yule. Something he had recognised not too late was that he probably shouldn't light a fire directly on the grass in the backyard. That was simply asking for trouble. No, he had gone out into some of the local woods to find himself a flat stone or something like that. Regrettably, he hadn't found one, but he had found a one-time-use barbecue bottom that would have to suffice this time.

He had picked a stick and laid it upon the barbecue. He had also brought a lighter which he had borrowed from his relatives. His magic hadn't begun to move as it had last year so he waited with bated breath.

When the sun fell he started to feel it. It felt so magical! His entire body was vibrating with joy along with his magic. He had closed his eyes and forgot everything about what he was about to do. He just stayed there for a while just feeling it.

Though there was something present that hadn't been there the last time. There was a feeling of anticipation, like something was waiting for something. The young boy opened his eyes and peered into the dark. Exactly like on Samhain the shadows were leaning towards him almost hungrily. He remembered that he had a job to do.

.:I burn this piece of wood in honour of Death:. he hissed out and lit the lighter. The shadows stretched even more and fell toward the light instead of away from it. The scene felt like something out of horror movie. He moved the lighter towards the stick and saw how all the shadows seemed to follow his every move, waiting, watching.

If he had been afraid that the stick wouldn't catch fire he didn't have to worry anymore. As soon as the flames touch the wood everything was consumed in flames and the lighter's flame died out. What was shocking though was the colour of the flames, if he could even call them that. The shadows that had before watched him, were now acting as black flames darkening the world.

Darkening really was the right word as yet again the backyard had disappeared, only to leave a darkness so deep that he could almost touch it. His eyes were yet again drawn to the shadow-fire as his magic started dance along the flames. It wasn't that it seemed to fulfil a certain purpose, but he just couldn't take his eyes of the flames again.

It was at that moment he felt it. A bony hand laid itself on his shoulder with all the weight of the world and at same time with the weight of a feather. Harry couldn't breath, he couldn't turn around and couldn't take his eyes of the fire. He knew there was someone, _something_ , standing behind him and he was terrified. There was only one person it could be, the person he had made this fire for; Death himself. He wanted to turn around and look at him, but no matter how much he wanted to, he couldn't move a single muscle.

The bony hand felt familiar, and a moment later he recognised it; it was the same hand that held his heart when Ariadnae had sacrificed the life of the badger for the first time. Had he somehow pledged his life to Death with that action? Was his life in Death's hand quite literally? He gulped but remained steadfast.

As the last piece of the stick had turned to ash and the last of the shadow-flames had disappeared, Death's hand raised itself from the boy's shoulder. He whipped around, but there was nothing there. Whatever had been there was long gone. His heart still beating like crazy, he saw that not all of the shadows had gone. In fact the only thing he could see was the backyard and he knew they were waiting for the scattering of ashes.

With cupped hands he picked up the ash and somehow, magically managed to get it all. He gently spread it as much as he could around himself, but he hadn't need to worry. Like a cloud it spread itself to every inch of the garden and sunk into the ground.

Finally the shadows receded and night let up. The sun started peaking above the horizon and he somehow knew that it was showing that it was the one who was growing stronger now and that Death was weakening. The wizard stumbled away from the garden and tip-toed up to his room.

—

Learning all the english words surprised his teacher, but Harry knew it wouldn't last long. He knew that soon the man would find something even harder to ask and Harry wasn't thrown off guard when he was right. He was asked to do essays and summaries on different historical subjects he had been told to read about in advance. It was tedious, but he, soon enough, learned how to do it.

To make certain he didn't fall for a test such as the hard-words one again, he decided to read all the course books for even the higher years such as science, geography, computing and even music. The curriculum really wasn't designed for someone who could remember every single detail of his life.

As his knowledge started shooting up his social life began to plummet. It took some weeks for him to notice that Dudley and Elisabeth weren't waiting for him on the breaks anymore they were of playing by themselves and Harry was left completely alone. Not even Ariadnae was there to keep him company as she was hibernating. When Harry confronted his friends why they weren't waiting for him they looked puzzled.

"But, we didn't think you wanted to?" Dudley explained "You always go to the library right away and always read. It's boring!"

"It's true", Elisabeth spoke up. She looked like she had just given the solution to world piece or something equally important.

The wizard really had to weigh his options then. Was his friendship really worth showing up his teacher? No, it wasn't, he decided. He promised himself that he would only read in at home where he couldn't play anyway. School-time was for playing and home-time was for reading. Except when he was invited over to Elisabeth of course. That was so fun!

He owed Elisabeth and her parents, especially her mother, big time though. They were the reason he no longer slept in the cupboard and was the reason uncle Vernon's and aunt Petunia's rumours about him being a criminal didn't work on the neighbourhood. Elisabeth's mother squashed those rumours with big laugh and told everyone how sweet both boys were and how smart Harry was. When she also started speaking of how great the Dursleys were for raising two such wonderful boys and how greatly they had raised Harry to being so smart she had successfully painted the elder Dursleys in a corner, without even being aware she had done it.

Now if the elder Dursleys wanted to keep _their_ standing in the neighbourhood they had to saying they proud of Harry and yes, of course they would let Harry skip some years if he was capable of it! They could not even hurt him physically, as the children sometimes had sleepovers at Elisabeth's place and any marks on Harry's body would show.

Because of all this Harry greatly owed Elisabeth and her family and would do almost anything they asked for. Luckily they hadn't yet, but if they did he would be there. He wondered if he could do something magical to help her out? He wasn't sure what that would be though. He had to make sure they wouldn't think it was magic, but at the same time actually doing something.

It would have to be something that were magical, but had effects that weren't. Like creating something non-magical with magical means. He would have to discuss this with Ariadnae when she woke up.

It didn't take long for the three friends to get together again once Harry stopped avoiding them on school-breaks. He then apprehended that he didn't _need_ to know everything right away and that he actually had several hours of time at home where he _couldn't_ do anything other than read. That was way more than he truly needed if he wanted to study.

It had also gotten a little bit boring to read about school subjects, it felt wrong to read about muggle physics when he could just make a ritual and easily bypass it.

—

Imbolc had left him kind of stunted. As all the celebrations to the Sun it was very much about getting your fields or your animals to live better and be stronger. The problem was that Harry didn't have any animals or a field to take care of. He had a backyard, but it kind of paled in comparison to what the pagans of old had.

He had gotten, again, the same candle that he had used in Samhain in the autumn. It wasn't like it had burned for any stretch of time anyway. What else he might need Harry didn't know, but hoped there wasn't anything. Most of the honouring seemed to centre on just welcoming the sun anyway.

With his english vocabulary greatly increased he had decided to not sound so pathetically immature when he did the ritual. He would use more appropriate words to convey that he was serious to the Sun.

The Sun was a great discomfort to Harry though. It had burnt both him and Ariadnae greatly last year but then again, he had neither welcomed, nor celebrated, it at any point during the spring so it might just have been angry with him. This was his chance to make things right with the Sun and to state his allegiance to it. Imbolc, after all, was also about new beginnings, which he hoped to start with the Sun. He took a deep breath as the first rays started to show and lit the candle.

.:Sun, I welcome you to this new year and humbly beg your forgiveness for the last:. the wizard started. It didn't happen fast, but he could almost swear the sun was turning around to look at him. An unwelcome shiver raced through his body. The sun wasn't happy with him for some reason, but it seemed it was willing to hear him out. What had he ever done to make the Sun so unhappy with him? Was it because Death already held his life its hand? No choice but to continue.

.:In my lack of knowledge, I forsook you and for that I felt your wrath. Please forgive me:. he waited for a moment, but nothing changed, so he soldiered on .:On this day of Imbolc, a day of purifying and visions of what's to come, I wish you to bless me, my land, and those I hold dear:.

All around him things started getting brighter, even the air seemed to become brighter, if that was possible. The little candle-flame slowly grew bigger until it was so big that it obviously was burning of something more than the candle. The colours of the garden seemed to fade away to give place to the light that danced towards the wizard. No, that was not entirely correct, the colours didn't fade away, they were sucked towards the flames that slowly turned white.

Harry couldn't help but draw a shuddering breath in awe of what he was seeing. It was truly a magical sight.

He looked up to see the Sun, felt a pang of pain and realised he wasn't entirely forgiven, but that it had decided to fulfil his wish anyway. Suddenly even it faded away and he was standing in an empty, white field that stretch as far as his eyes could see.

Where was he? He hadn't died had he? No, he had too much to fulfil, too much to do, to learn! Then the field shifted on itself he saw a big, unlit bonfire where there before was nothing. Then, just as at Yule, he lost control of his body. It started walking by itself towards the bonfire and when his body reached it, it held out his arm, which now held a lit torch. When the torch reached the bonfire the world started burning away until everything was gone. The last thing he saw was the sun rising to stand at top of sky, it's strongest position when its power were at its best.

—

With a gasp he rose up from laying in the garden of 4 Privet Drive. He felt around on his body and with sigh saw that everything was still there and that he hadn't been hurt. But what was that? A vision of the future? That he would start a bonfire?

If so, he must really have a boring future. The highlight of his future life being that he would start a bonfire was quite the downer actually. Weren't visions of the future presumed to be something shocking and big? Like "you will kill your father and marry your mother"? That story was kind of funny actually, if you skipped the whole hubris and nemesis part. Not that it really mattered, if he was destined to start a bonfire, he should probably do it sometime.

The purifying part of the ritual was nowhere to be felt though. That was kind of expected though as he had no idea how being purified should feel like. Anyway, if he didn't know there was nothing he should be upset about. He would of course speak about all of it with Ariadnae when she woke up, but at the moment he would just have to let it go.

There wasn't really any big change in the garden either. Nothing noticeable at least, but he guessed he wouldn't be able to see it even if he wanted as none of the flowers or bushes had started to bloom. He wandered if anyone would notice anything weird if it became a really beautiful garden, but probably not with his ward there and all.

—

In a certain wizarding prison, owned by the ministry of magic, a gangly, malnourished man sat up groggily. He had definitely seen better days, but today he actually seemed fine. The dementors' were for some reasons floating large circles around him looking like they were avoiding him. It was quite strange actually, but a very welcome kind of strange.

"Do you feel that Bellatrix?" he asked out loud to seemingly no one and surprisingly enough, no one answered him. "Hey, Bella, I'm talking to you!" he said louder. He was actually in right mind for the moment, which he hadn't been for several years now. It really had been several years right? Or had it? Maybe it had only been a couple of days? He felt okay right now, but for how long?

"Shut it, Sirius!" he heard and for a while it was quiet again. How was he thinking so clearly? He looked down at himself and damn he looked awful. Most of his clothes had fallen of and what hadn't was more than partially destroyed by all the wind and water. He knew his clothes were probably in an even better state than his fellow inmates' as he was an animagus spent most of his time as a dog. The dementors weren't as likely to bother him in that form for some reason.

"What do you want?" he heard Bella scream and he snorted. As much as she wanted to hate him, any distraction was a welcome one in here.

"The dementors aren't bothering us and hasn't for a while" he shouted back. He wondered what that meant. Were there visitors? No, they used to flock around visitors, not stay far away from them.

" _He_ 's coming!" she shouted joyfully. Merlin's beard, he hoped she was wrong and that it was only her imaginations talking. "The Dark Lord's coming! He's coming to free us!"

It was a testament to how often she shouted that when nobody reacted or even try to stir. Well, almost nobody.

"Black!" someone roared from somewhere "Why'd you have to get'er going again?" and yes, Sirius had heard the rant before. Some imbecile had thought it funny to place him and his cousin in cells next to each other. That person was on his shit list even before Bagnold, who put him here the first place. Whoever it was, was also right behind Voldemort, with Peter on top. Oh, how he hated that rat. Many times had he daydreamed how he would slowly kill him while watching gleefully. It was only fair, a life for a life. Or two lives really, he was after all responsible for both Lily's and James's death.

Being this clear minded was very nice and now would actually be quite a good time to escape, but there was no way he could do that. The bars on his cell were just too tight. There was no way he would fit through, not even in his dog-form. That was actually one of his first ideas, but was quickly squashed when even his bone structure was too wide to fit through.

"Is it some kind of special day today?" Sirius wondered out loud, but loud enough for someone to pick up what he'd said.

"The hell would _we_ know?" a fourth person spoke up. "It's not like we've ever had a _day_ here!" Sirius had to agree with that, they only had nighttime here. It was also something of a standing joke between the inmates, no matter how long you'd been there you could always say you'd only been there overnight. The only way to know what year it was was to ask newcomers when they were thrown in or if some nice relative would come and visit. If you had one of those you were almost forced to ask them and spread the news. And boy did that spread fast.

Unfortunately the wardens didn't come in to check very often. They did in the beginning he had heard, but even they were effected by the dementors and had spelled every cell to tell them when someone died. All to not have to get close to the dementors.

Too soon his temporary reprieve from the dementors disappeared though and he lost that blissful clarity he had somehow attained. It was really nice, he hoped it would come again soon. If he hadn't just imagined it all and was starting to go as crazy as his cousin. He hoped not. So long as focused on his innocence he should be fine.

 **A/N**

 **I'm sorry to say I'm neither a pagan, a wiccan, nor anything like that. I'm an honest to god atheist. Whatever religious dribble I have written in this chapter I have either pulled from a wiki-page or out of my ass.**

 **Thank you for reading!**


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